Methods for Improving Protein Performance

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides methods for engineering proteins to optimize their performance under certain environmental conditions of interest. In some embodiments, the present invention provides methods for engineering enzymes to optimize their catalytic activity under particular environmental conditions. In some preferred embodiments, the present invention provides methods for altering the net surface charge and/or surface charge distribution of enzymes {e.g., metalloproteases or serine proteases) to obtain enzyme variants that demonstrate improved performance in detergent formulations as compared to the starting or parent enzyme.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. Nos. 60/933,307, 60/933,331, and 60/933,312, filed on Jun. 6, 2007, hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides methods for engineering proteins to optimize their performance under certain environmental conditions of interest. In some embodiments, the present invention provides methods for engineering enzymes to optimize their catalytic activity under particular environmental conditions. In some preferred embodiments, the present invention provides methods for altering the net surface charge and/or surface charge distribution of enzymes (e.g., metalloproteases or serine proteases) to obtain enzyme variants that demonstrate improved performance in detergent formulations as compared to the starting or parent enzyme.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The properties of proteins functioning outside their natural milieu are often suboptimal. For instance, enzymes (e.g., proteases, lipases, amylases, cellulases, etc.) are frequently used for cleaning stains from fabric in laundry detergents, which typically include a complex combination of active ingredients. In fact, most cleaning products include a surfactant system, bleaching agents, builders, suds suppressors, soil-suspending agents, soil-release agents, optical brighteners, softening agents, dispersants, dye transfer inhibition compounds, abrasives, bactericides, and perfumes, as well as enzymes for cleaning. Thus despite the complexity of current detergents, there are many stains that are difficult to completely remove, due in part to suboptimal enzyme performance. Despite much research in enzyme development, there remains a need in the art for methods to engineer proteins for particular uses and conditions. Indeed, there remains a need in the art for methods to rapidly and systematically tailor electrostatic properties of other to optimize their performance in commercial applications. In particular, there remains a need in the art for methods to engineer industrially useful enzymes, including but not limited to lipases, amylases, cutinases, mannanases, oxidoreductases, cellulases, pectinases, proteases, and other enzymes, in order to provide improved activity, stability, and solubility in cleaning solutions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides methods for engineering proteins to optimize their performance under certain environmental conditions of interest. In some embodiments, the present invention provides methods for engineering enzymes to optimize their catalytic activity under particular environmental conditions. In some preferred embodiments, the present invention provides methods for altering the net surface charge and/or surface charge distribution of enzymes (e.g., metalloproteases or serine proteases) to obtain enzyme variants that demonstrate improved performance in detergent formulations as compared to the starting or parent enzyme.

In some embodiments, the present invention provides methods for charge substitutions in proteins, in particular enzymes. In some preferred embodiments, the present invention provides methods of producing enzymes with improved wash performance. The present invention finds use in engineering various enzymes, as well as other proteins. In particular, the present invention finds use in the development of improved enzymes that find use in industry, including but not limited to cleaning (e.g., laundry, dish, hard surface, etc.). However, it is not intended that the present invention be limited to any particular enzyme or protein.

The present invention provides methods for producing a neutral metalloprotease variant with improved wash performance as compared to a parent neutral metalloprotease, comprising: substituting an amino acid residue at one or more positions in a parent neutral metalloprotease to yield a neutral metalloprotease variant having a more positive charge or a more negative charge compared to the parent. In some particularly preferred embodiments, the methods further comprise testing the wash performance of the variant by comparing the ability of the parent and the variant to remove a stain, wherein the wash performance of the parent is given a value of 1.0 and the variant with improved wash performance achieves a value greater than 1.0. In further embodiments, the present invention provides methods for producing the variant having improved wash performance. In some embodiments, the parent neutral metalloprotease is a wild type mature form of the neutral metalloprotease. In some other embodiments, the variant is derived from a Bacillaceae neutral metalloprotease. In some preferred embodiments, the variant is derived from a Bacillus neutral metalloprotease. In some particularly preferred embodiments, the wash performance is tested in a powder or liquid detergent composition having a pH of between 6.5 and 12.0. In some preferred embodiments, the wash performance is tested in a liquid laundry detergent having a basic pH. In some alternative preferred embodiments, one or more positions in a parent neutral metalloprotease are positions having a solvent accessible surface (SAS) of greater than about 50%. In some additional preferred embodiments, one or more positions in a parent neutral metalloprotease are positions having a solvent accessible surface (SAS) of greater than about 65%.

The present invention also provides methods for producing a neutral metalloprotease variant with improved wash performance as compared to a parent neutral metalloprotease, comprising: substituting an amino acid residue at one or more positions in a parent neutral metalloprotease to yield a neutral metalloprotease variant having a more positive charge or a less negative charge compared to the parent; and substituting an amino acid residue at one or more positions in a parent neutral metalloprotease to yield a neutral metalloprotease variant having a more negative charge or a less positive charge compared to the parent. In some preferred embodiments, the methods further comprise testing the wash performance of the variant by comparing the ability of the parent and the variant to remove a stain, wherein the wash performance of the parent is given a value of 1.0 and the variant with improved wash performance achieves a value greater than 1.0. In still further embodiments, the methods comprise producing the variant having improved wash performance. It is intended that the steps be conducted in any suitable order. In some embodiments, the parent neutral metalloprotease is a wild type mature form of the neutral metalloprotease. In some other embodiments, the variant is derived from a Bacillaceae neutral metalloprotease. In some preferred embodiments, the variant is derived from a Bacillus neutral metalloprotease. In some particularly preferred embodiments, the wash performance is tested in a powder or liquid detergent composition having a pH of between 6.5 and 12.0. In some preferred embodiments, the wash performance is tested in a liquid laundry detergent having a basic pH. In some alternative preferred embodiments, one or more positions in a parent neutral metalloprotease are positions having a solvent accessible surface (SAS) of greater than about 50%. In some additional preferred embodiments, one or more positions in a parent neutral metalloprotease are positions having a solvent accessible surface (SAS) of greater than about 65%. In some preferred embodiments, at least one acidic amino acid residue is substituted with at least one basic amino acid residues, while in other embodiments, at least one acidic amino acid residue is substituted with at least one neutral amino acid residue, and in some additional embodiments, at least one neutral amino acid residue is substituted with a basic amino acid residue. In some embodiments, various combinations of substitutions are provided. In additional embodiments, at least one basic amino acid residue is substituted with at least one acidic amino acid residue, while in other embodiments, at least one basic amino acid residue is substituted with at least one neutral amino acid residue, and in still further embodiments, at least one neutral amino acid residue is substituted with at least one acidic amino acid. In yet additional embodiments, at least one neutral amino acid residue in a parent neutral metalloprotease is substituted with at least one neutral amino acid residue to yield a neutral metallo protease variant having the same charge as compared to the parent. It is not intended that the present invention be limited to any particular combinations of substitutions. It is also not intended that the substitutions be performed in any particular order.

The present invention provides methods for producing a serine protease variant with improved wash performance as compared to a parent serine protease, comprising: substituting an amino acid residue at one or more positions in a parent serine protease to yield a serine protease variant having a more positive charge or a more negative charge compared to the parent. In some particularly preferred embodiments, the methods further comprise testing the wash performance of the variant by comparing the ability of the parent and the variant to remove a stain, wherein the wash performance of the parent is given a value of 1.0 and the variant with improved wash performance achieves a value greater than 1.0. In further embodiments, the present invention provides methods for producing the variant having improved wash performance. In some embodiments, the parent serine protease is a wild type mature form of the serine protease. In some other embodiments, the variant is derived from a Bacillaceae serine protease. In some preferred embodiments, the variant is derived from a Bacillus serine protease. In some particularly preferred embodiments, the wash performance is tested in a powder or liquid detergent composition having a pH of between 6.5 and 12.0. In some preferred embodiments, the wash performance is tested in a liquid laundry detergent having a basic pH. In some alternative preferred embodiments, one or more positions in a parent serine protease are positions having a solvent accessible surface (SAS) of greater than about 50%. In some additional preferred embodiments, one or more positions in a parent serine protease are positions having a solvent accessible surface (SAS) of greater than about 65%.

The present invention also provides methods for producing a serine protease variant with improved wash performance as compared to a parent serine protease, comprising: substituting an amino acid residue at one or more positions in a parent serine protease to yield a serine protease variant having a more positive charge or a less negative charge compared to the parent; and substituting an amino acid residue at one or more positions in a parent serine protease to yield a serine protease variant having a more negative charge or a less positive charge compared to the parent. In some preferred embodiments, the methods further comprise testing the wash performance of the variant by comparing the ability of the parent and the variant to remove a stain, wherein the wash performance of the parent is given a value of 1.0 and the variant with improved wash performance achieves a value greater than 1.0. In still further embodiments, the methods comprise producing the variant having improved wash performance. It is intended that the steps be conducted in any suitable order. In some embodiments, the parent serine protease is a wild type mature form of the serine protease. In some other embodiments, the variant is derived from a Micrococcineae serine protease. In some preferred embodiments, the variant is derived from a Cellulomonas serine protease. In some particularly preferred embodiments, the wash performance is tested in a powder or liquid detergent composition having a pH of between 6.5 and 12.0. In some preferred embodiments, the wash performance is tested in a liquid laundry detergent having a basic pH. In some alternative preferred embodiments, one or more positions in a parent serine protease are positions having a solvent accessible surface (SAS) of greater than about 50%. In some additional preferred embodiments, one or more positions in a parent serine protease are positions having a solvent accessible surface (SAS) of greater than about 65%. In some preferred embodiments, at least one acidic amino acid residue is substituted with at least one basic amino acid residues, while in other embodiments, at least one acidic amino acid residue is substituted with at least one neutral amino acid residue, and in some additional embodiments, at least one neutral amino acid residue is substituted with a basic amino acid residue. In some embodiments, various combinations of substitutions are provided. In additional embodiments, at least one basic amino acid residue is substituted with at least one acidic amino acid residue, while in other embodiments, at least one basic amino acid residue is substituted with at least one neutral amino acid residue, and in still further embodiments, at least one neutral amino acid residue is substituted with at least one acidic amino acid. In yet additional embodiments, at least one neutral amino acid residue in a parent serine protease is substituted with at least one neutral amino acid residue to yield a neutral metallo protease variant having the same charge as compared to the parent. It is not intended that the present invention be limited to any particular combinations of substitutions. It is also not intended that the substitutions be performed in any particular order.

The present invention also provides methods for producing a serine protease variant with improved wash performance as compared to a parent serine protease, comprising:

substituting an amino acid residue at one or more positions in a parent serine protease to yield a serine protease variant having a more positive charge or a less negative charge compared to the parent; substituting an amino acid residue at one or more positions in a parent serine protease to yield a serine protease variant having a more negative charge or a less positive charge compared to the parent; and obtaining a serine protease variant produced by these steps. In additional embodiments, the methods comprise testing the wash performance of the variant by comparing the ability of the parent and the variant to remove a stain, wherein the wash performance of the parent is given a value of 1.0 and the variant with improved wash performance achieves a value greater than 1.0. In further embodiments, the methods include producing the variant having improved wash performance. It is intended that the steps be conducted in any suitable order. In some embodiments, the parent serine protease is a wild type mature form of the serine protease. In some other embodiments, the variant is derived from a Micrococcineae serine protease. In some preferred embodiments, the variant is derived from a Cellulomonas serine protease. In some particularly preferred embodiments, the wash performance is tested in a powder or liquid detergent composition having a pH of between 6.5 and 12.0. In some preferred embodiments, the wash performance is tested in a liquid laundry detergent having a basic pH. In some alternative preferred embodiments, one or more positions in a parent serine protease are positions having a solvent accessible surface (SAS) of greater than about 50%. In some additional preferred embodiments, one or more positions in a parent serine protease are positions having a solvent accessible surface (SAS) of greater than about 65%. In some preferred embodiments, at least one acidic amino acid residue is substituted with at least one basic amino acid residues, while in other embodiments, at least one acidic amino acid residue is substituted with at least one neutral amino acid residue, and in some additional embodiments, at least one neutral amino acid residue is substituted with a basic amino acid residue. In some embodiments, various combinations of substitutions are provided. In additional embodiments, at least one basic amino acid residue is substituted with at least one acidic amino acid residue, while in other embodiments, at least one basic amino acid residue is substituted with at least one neutral amino acid residue, and in still further embodiments, at least one neutral amino acid residue is substituted with at least one acidic amino acid. In yet additional embodiments, at least one neutral amino acid residue in a parent serine protease is substituted with at least one neutral amino acid residue to yield a neutral metallo protease variant having the same charge as compared to the parent. It is not intended that the present invention be limited to any particular combinations of substitutions. It is also not intended that the substitutions be performed in any particular order.

The present invention provides methods for producing at least one protein variant with improved performance as compared to a parent protein, comprising modifying at least one amino acid residue at one or more positions in the parent protein to yield at least one protein variant having a more positive, more negative, less positive, or less negative charge compared to the parent protein. In some embodiments, the modifying comprises substituting, adding and/or deleting, while in other embodiments, modifying comprises chemically modifying. In some embodiments, the protein is an enzyme. In some particularly preferred embodiments, the enzyme is a protease, amylase, cellulase, polyesterase, esterase, lipase, cutinase, pectinase, oxidase, transferase, alkalase, or catalase. In some further particularly preferred embodiments, the protease is a serine protease or a neutral metalloprotease. In some additional embodiments, the performance of at least one protein variant is assessed using at least one test of interest. In some further embodiments, the at least one test of interest comprises measuring substrate binding, enzyme inhibition, expression levels, detergent stability, thermal stability, reaction rate, extent of reaction, thermal activity, starch liquefaction, ester hydrolysis, enzymatic bleaching, wash performance, biomass degradation, solubility, chelant stability, and/or saccharification. In some still additional embodiments, the at least one protein variant exhibits improved performance in at least one test of interest, as compared to the parent protein.

The present invention also provides methods for producing at least one enzyme variant with improved wash performance as compared to a parent enzyme, comprising modifying at least one amino acid residue at one or more positions in the parent enzyme to produce at least one enzyme variant having a more positive more negative, less positive, or less negative compared to the parent enzyme. In some embodiments, the modifying comprises substituting, adding and/or deleting, while in alternative embodiments, modifying comprises chemically modifying. In some additional embodiments, the methods further comprise testing the wash performance of the enzyme variant and parent enzyme to provide performance indices for the enzyme variants and parent enzyme. In some embodiments, the performance index of the enzyme variant has a value that is greater than 1.0 and the wash performance of the parent enzyme has a performance index of 1.0. In some particularly preferred embodiments, the methods further comprise producing the variant enzyme having improved wash performance. In some additional embodiments, the enzyme is a protease, amylase, cellulase, polyesterase, esterase, lipase, cutinase, pectinase, oxidase, transferase, alkalase, or catalase. In some preferred embodiments, the protease is a serine protease or a neutral metalloprotease. In some particularly preferred embodiments, the protease is a Bacillus protease. In some still further embodiments, the wash performance is tested in a powder or liquid detergent composition having a pH of between 5 and 12.0. In some embodiments, the wash performance is tested in a liquid laundry detergent having a basic pH, while in some other embodiments, the wash performance is tested in cold water liquid detergent comprising a basic pH. In some embodiments, the substitutions are in positions in the parent enzyme having a solvent accessible surface (SAS) of greater than about 25%. In some further embodiments, the substitutions are in positions in the parent enzyme having a solvent accessible surface (SAS) of greater than about 50% or greater than about 65%.

The present invention also provides methods for producing enzyme variants with improved wash performance as compared to a parent enzyme, comprising: a) modifying at least one amino acid residue at one or more positions in a parent enzyme to produce a first enzyme variant having a more positive, more negative, less positive, or less negative charge compared to the parent enzyme; and b) modifying at least one amino acid residue at one or more positions in a parent enzyme to produce a second enzyme variant having a more positive, more negative, less positive, or less negative charge compared to the parent enzyme. In some embodiments, the modifying comprises substituting, adding and/or deleting, while in some alternative embodiments, the modifying comprises chemically modifying. In some additional embodiments, the steps are repeated to produce a plurality of enzyme variants. In some further embodiments, the parent enzyme is a protease, amylase, cellulase, polyesterase, esterase, lipase, cutinase, pectinase, oxidase, transferase, alkalase, or catalase. In some preferred embodiments, the protease is a neutral metalloprotease, or serine protease. In some particularly preferred embodiments, the parent enzyme is a Bacillus protease. In some further embodiments, the methods further comprise testing the wash performance of the variant enzymes and parent enzyme, and comparing the ability of the parent and the variant enzymes to remove a stain in the wash performance test, wherein the wash performance of the parent enzyme is given a value of 1.0 and the variant enzyme with improved wash performance achieves a value greater than 1.0. In some embodiments, the methods further comprise producing the enzyme variant having improved wash performance as compared to the parent enzyme. In some preferred embodiments, the parent enzyme is a serine protease. In some particularly preferred embodiments, the serine protease is a Bacillus serine protease or Cellulomonas serine protease. In some further embodiments, the wash performance is tested in a powder or liquid detergent composition having a pH of between 5 and 12.0. In some additional embodiments, the wash performance is tested in a liquid laundry detergent having a basic pH. In still further embodiments, the wash performance is tested in cold water liquid detergent comprising a basic pH. In some alternative embodiments, the substitutions are in positions in the parent enzyme having a solvent accessible surface (SAS) of greater than about 25%, while in some other embodiments, the substitutions are in positions in the parent enzyme having a solvent accessible surface (SAS) of greater than about 50% or greater than about 65%. In some embodiments, at least one acidic amino acid residue is substituted with at least one basic amino acid residue, while in other embodiments, at least one acidic amino acid residue is substituted with at least one neutral amino acid residue, at least one neutral amino acid residue is substituted with at least one basic amino acid residue, at least one basic amino acid residue is substituted with at least one acidic amino acid residue, at least one basic amino acid residue is substituted with at least one neutral amino acid residue, at least one neutral amino acid residue is substituted with at least one acidic amino acid, and/or at least one neutral amino acid residue in the parent enzyme is substituted with at least one neutral amino acid residue to yield an enzyme variant having the same charge as compared to the parent enzyme. It is intended that any suitable combination of substitutions will find use in the present invention, as desired.

The present invention also provides methods for producing at least one protein variant with improved performance as compared to a parent protein, comprising modifying at least one amino acid residue at one or more positions in the parent protein to produce at least one protein variant having a more positive, more negative, less positive, or less negative charge as compared to the parent protein and wherein the one or more positions have a solvent accessible surface (SAS) of greater than about 25%. In some embodiments, one or more position is non-conserved in amino acid alignments of homologous protein sequences comprising the parent protein and at least one additional protein. In some preferred embodiments, the parent protein is an enzyme. In some particularly preferred embodiments, the enzyme is a protease, amylase, cellulase, polyesterase, esterase, lipase, cutinase, pectinase, oxidase, transferase, alkalase, or a catalase. In some further embodiments, the improved performance comprises an increase in one or more properties selected from substrate binding, enzyme inhibition, expression, stability in detergent, thermal stability, reaction rate, extent of reaction, thermal activity, starch liquefaction, biomass degradation, saccharification, ester hydrolysis, enzymatic bleaching, wash performance, solubility, chelants stability, and/or textile modification. In some additional embodiments, the modifying comprises substituting, adding, and/or deleting, while in other embodiments, modifying comprises chemically modifying. In some embodiments, at least one substitution comprises a net charge change of 0, −1 or −2 relative to the parent protein, while in other embodiments, at least one substitution comprises a net charge change of +1 or +2 relative to the parent protein. In some further embodiments, at least one of the substitutions in the parent protein comprises a charge change of 0, −1 or −2, and wherein at least one further substitution in the parent protein comprises a charge change of +1 or +2 relative to the parent protein. In some alternative embodiments, the protein variant has a net charge change of +1 or +2, relative to the parent protein, while in other embodiments, the protein variant has a net charge change of 0, −1, or −2, relative to the parent protein. In some additional embodiments, the substitutions are in positions in the parent enzyme having a solvent accessible surface (SAS) of greater than about 50% or greater than about 65%.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A depicts relative blood, milk, ink (BMI) microswatch activity (normalized with respect to best performer) of ASP variants as a function of net charge change relative to wild type ASP as measured in AATCC liquid detergent (filled triangles) and a buffer (unfilled circles) of matching pH and conductivity (5 mM HEPES pH 8.0, 2.5 mM NaCl). Similarly, FIG. 1B relative BMI microswatch activity as a function of charge change relative to wild-type, for an ASP combinatorial charge library (CCL).

FIG. 2 depicts relative BMI microswatch activity (normalized with respect to best performer) of ASP variants as a function of charge change relative to wild-type ASP as measured in 5 mM HEPES pH 8.0 with varying NaCl concentration: 2.5 mM (unfilled circles), 16 mM (gray circles) and 100 mM (black circles).

FIG. 3A depicts BMI cleaning performance of a FNA CCL in North American laundry detergent as a function of charge change. Similarly FIG. 3B depicts BMI cleaning performance of a GG36 CCL in North American laundry detergent as a function of charge change.

FIG. 4A depicts BMI cleaning performance of a FNA CCL in Western European liquid laundry detergent as a function of charge change. Similarly FIG. 4B depicts BMI cleaning performance of a GG36 CCL in Western European liquid laundry detergent as a function of charge change.

FIG. 5A depicts BMI cleaning performance of a FNA CCL in Japanese powdered laundry detergent as a function of charge change. Similarly FIG. 5B depicts BMI cleaning performance of a GG36 CCL in Japanese powdered laundry detergent as a function of charge change.

FIG. 6A depicts baked egg yolk cleaning performance of a FNA CCL in automatic dish washing detergent as a function of charge change. Similarly FIG. 6B depicts baked egg yolk cleaning performance of a GG36 CCL in automatic dish washing detergent as a function of charge change.

FIG. 7A depicts specific enzymatic activity on BODIPY starch for an AmyS-S242Q CCL as a function of charge change. Similarly FIG. 7B depicts viscosity after corn starch liquefaction for surface charge variants of AmyS spanning a charge change ladder of −12 to +4 in relation to the parent AmyS enzyme.

FIG. 8 depicts the expression levels of ASP variants in Bacillus subtilis as a function of net charge change relative to wild type ASP.

FIG. 9 depicts LAS/EDTA stability of FNA variants as a function of net charge change relative to parent FNA.

FIG. 10 depicts thermostability of ASP variants as a function of net charge change relative to wild type ASP.

FIG. 11 depicts thermal stability of first AmyS charge ladder as a function of charge change relative to wild type AmyS.

FIG. 12 provides rice starch cleaning activity of the first AmyS charge ladder as a function of pH. pH 3.0-4.25 is 200 mM Na formate +0.01% Tween-80. pH 4.25-5.5 is 200 mM Na acetate +0.01% Tween-80. The data are fit to titration curves, each with a single pKa value.

FIG. 13 provides pKa values determined in FIG. 31 plotted against charge change relative to wild type AmyS.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides methods for engineering proteins to optimize their performance under certain environmental conditions of interest. In some embodiments, the present invention provides methods for engineering enzymes to optimize their catalytic activity under particular environmental conditions. In some preferred embodiments, the present invention provides methods for altering the net surface charge and/or surface charge distribution of enzymes (e.g., metalloproteases or serine proteases) to obtain enzyme variants that demonstrate improved performance in detergent formulations as compared to the starting or parent enzyme.

The protease subtilisin is a major enzyme used in laundry detergents and perhaps the most widely used enzyme in the world. Almost twenty years ago, it was noted that surface electrostatic effects could modulate the catalytic activity of subtilisin (See e.g., Russell and Fersht, Nature 328:496-500 [1987]). More recently, mutations that involved changing the net charge of subtilisin were observed to have a dramatic effect on wash performance in detergents (See e.g., EP Patent No. 0 479 870 B1, incorporated herein by reference). This beneficial effect was believed to be a result of shifting the pI (isoelectric point) of subtilisin toward the pH of the wash liquor. However, later work demonstrated that this conclusion is not always applicable (See e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,673,590 B1, incorporated herein by reference). As indicated in this Patent, the effect of charge mutations in subtilisin depend dramatically on detergent concentrations, with mutations lowering the pI of the parent subtilisin providing an enzyme that is more effective at low detergent concentration and mutations raising the pI providing an enzyme that is more effective at high detergent concentration. This is of great utility because detergent concentration in the wash liquors varies greatly across the globe. Thus, it has become apparent to those of skill in the art that there is an optimal pI for wash performance of subtilisin, which depends on the pH and detergent concentration in the wash liquor. Further efforts to improve the activity of subtilisin in laundry detergents have been described (See, US Pat. Publication No. 2005/0221461). Surprisingly, subtilisin variants having the same net electrostatic charge as the parent subtilisin were found to have increased wash performance under both high and low detergent concentration wash conditions.

Unless otherwise indicated, the practice of the present invention involves conventional techniques commonly used in protein engineering, molecular biology, microbiology, and recombinant DNA, which are within the skill of the art. Such techniques are known to those of skill in the art and are described in numerous texts and reference works well known to those skilled in the art. All patents, patent applications, articles and publications mentioned herein, both supra and infra, are hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference.

Unless defined otherwise herein, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention pertains. Although any methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein find use in the practice of the present invention, the preferred methods and materials are described herein. Accordingly, the terms defined immediately below are more fully described by reference to the Specification as a whole.

Also, as used herein, the singular “a,” “an,” and “the” include the plural reference unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Unless otherwise indicated, nucleic acids are written left to right in 5′ to 3′ orientation; amino acid sequences are written left to right in amino to carboxy orientation, respectively. It is to be understood that this invention is not limited to the particular methodology, protocols, and reagents described, as these may vary, depending upon the context they are used by those of skill in the art.

It is intended that every maximum numerical limitation given throughout this specification includes every lower numerical limitation, as if such lower numerical limitations were expressly written herein. Every minimum numerical limitation given throughout this specification will include every higher numerical limitation, as if such higher numerical limitations were expressly written herein. Every numerical range given throughout this specification will include every narrower numerical range that falls within such broader numerical range, as if such narrower numerical ranges were all expressly written herein.

Furthermore, the headings provided herein are not limitations of the various aspects or embodiments of the invention, which can be had by reference to the specification as a whole. Accordingly, the terms defined immediately below are more fully defined by reference to the specification as a whole. Nonetheless, in order to facilitate understanding of the invention, a number of terms are defined below.

DEFINITIONS

As used herein, the terms “protease,” and “proteolytic activity” refer to a protein or peptide exhibiting the ability to hydrolyze peptides or substrates having peptide linkages. Many well known procedures exist for measuring proteolytic activity (See e.g., Kalisz, “Microbial Proteinases,” In: Fiechter (ed.), Advances in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology, [1988]). For example, proteolytic activity may be ascertained by comparative assays, which analyze the respective protease's ability to hydrolyze a commercial substrate. Exemplary substrates useful in the such analysis of protease or proteolytic activity, include, but are not limited to di-methyl casein (Sigma C-9801), bovine collagen (Sigma C-9879), bovine elastin (Sigma E-1625), and bovine keratin (ICN Biomedical 902111). Colorimetric assays utilizing these substrates are well known in the art (See e.g., WO 99/34011; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,376,450, both of which are incorporated herein by reference. The pNA assay (See e.g., Del Mar et al., Anal Biochem, 99:316-320 [1979]) also finds use in determining the active enzyme concentration for fractions collected during gradient elution. This assay measures the rate at which p-nitroaniline is released as the enzyme hydrolyzes the soluble synthetic substrate, succinyl-alanine-alanine-proline-phenylalanine-p-nitroanilide (sAAPF-pNA). The rate of production of yellow color from the hydrolysis reaction is measured at 410 nm on a spectrophotometer and is proportional to the active enzyme concentration. In addition, absorbance measurements at 280 nm can be used to determine the total protein concentration. The active enzyme/total-protein ratio gives the enzyme purity.

As used herein, the terms “ASP protease,” “Asp protease,” and “Asp,” refer to the serine proteases described herein and described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/576,331, incorporated herein by reference). In some preferred embodiments, the Asp protease is the protease designed herein as 69B4 protease obtained from Cellulomonas strain 69B4. Thus, in preferred embodiments, the term “69B4 protease” refers to a naturally occurring mature protease derived from Cellulomonas strain 69B4 (DSM 16035) having a substantially identical amino acid sequence as provided in SEQ ID NO:8. In alternative embodiments, the present invention provides portions of the ASP protease.

The term “Cellulomonas protease homologues” refers to naturally occurring proteases having substantially identical amino acid sequences to the mature protease derived from Cellulomonas strain 69B4 or polynucleotide sequences which encode for such naturally occurring proteases, and which proteases retain the functional characteristics of a serine protease encoded by such nucleic acids. In some embodiments, these protease homologues are referred to as “cellulomonadins.”

As used herein, the terms “ASP variant,” “ASP protease variant,” and “69B protease variant” are used in reference to proteases that are similar to the wild-type ASP, particularly in their function, but have mutations in their amino acid sequence that make them different in sequence from the wild-type protease.

As used herein, “Cellulomonas ssp.” refers to all of the species within the genus “Cellulomonas,” which are Gram-positive bacteria classified as members of the Family Cellulomonadaceae, Suborder Micrococcineae, Order Actinomycetales, Class Actinobacteria. It is recognized that the genus Cellulomonas continues to undergo taxonomical reorganization. Thus, it is intended that the genus include species that have been reclassified.

As used herein, “Streptomyces ssp.” refers to all of the species within the genus “Streptomyces,” which are Gram-positive bacteria classified as members of the Family Streptomycetaceae, Suborder Streptomycineae, Order Actinomycetales, class Actinobacteria. It is recognized that the genus Streptomyces continues to undergo taxonomical reorganization. Thus, it is intended that the genus include species that have been reclassified.

As used herein, “the genus Bacillus” includes all species within the genus “Bacillus,” as known to those of skill in the art, including but not limited to B. subtilis, B. licheniformis, B. lentus, B. brevis, B. stearothermophilus, B. alkalophilus, B. amyloliquefaciens, B. clausii, B. halodurans, B. megaterium, B. coagulans, B. circulans, B. lautus, and B. thuringiensis. It is recognized that the genus Bacillus continues to undergo taxonomical reorganization. Thus, it is intended that the genus include species that have been reclassified, including but not limited to such organisms as B. stearothermophilus, which is now named “Geobacillus stearothermophilus.” The production of resistant endospores in the presence of oxygen is considered the defining feature of the genus Bacillus, although this characteristic also applies to the recently named Alicyclobacillus, Amphibacillus, Aneurinibacillus, Anoxybacillus, Brevibacillus, Filobacillus, Gracilibacillus, Halobacillus, Paenibacillus, Salibacillus, Thermobacillus, Ureibacillus, and Virgibacillus.

The terms “polynucleotide” and “nucleic acid”, used interchangeably herein, refer to a polymeric form of nucleotides of any length, either ribonucleotides or deoxyribonucleotides. These terms include, but are not limited to, a single-, double- or triple-stranded DNA, genomic DNA, cDNA, RNA, DNA-RNA hybrid, or a polymer comprising purine and pyrimidine bases, or other natural, chemically, biochemically modified, non-natural or derivatized nucleotide bases. The following are non-limiting examples of polynucleotides: genes, gene fragments, chromosomal fragments, ESTs, exons, introns, mRNA, tRNA, rRNA, ribozymes, cDNA, recombinant polynucleotides, branched polynucleotides, plasmids, vectors, isolated DNA of any sequence, isolated RNA of any sequence, nucleic acid probes, and primers. In some embodiments, polynucleotides comprise modified nucleotides, such as methylated nucleotides and nucleotide analogs, uracil, other sugars and linking groups such as fluororibose and thioate, and nucleotide branches. In alternative embodiments, the sequence of nucleotides is interrupted by non-nucleotide components.

As used herein, the terms “DNA construct” and “transforming DNA” are used interchangeably to refer to DNA used to introduce sequences into a host cell or organism. The DNA may be generated in vitro by PCR or any other suitable technique(s) known to those in the art. In particularly preferred embodiments, the DNA construct comprises a sequence of interest (e.g., as an incoming sequence). In some embodiments, the sequence is operably linked to additional elements such as control elements (e.g., promoters, etc.). The DNA construct may further comprise a selectable marker. It may further comprise an incoming sequence flanked by homology boxes. In a further embodiment, the transforming DNA comprises other non-homologous sequences, added to the ends (e.g., stuffer sequences or flanks). In some embodiments, the ends of the incoming sequence are closed such that the transforming DNA forms a closed circle. The transforming sequences may be wild-type, mutant or modified. In some embodiments, the DNA construct comprises sequences homologous to the host cell chromosome. In other embodiments, the DNA construct comprises non-homologous sequences. Once the DNA construct is assembled in vitro it may be used to: 1) insert heterologous sequences into a desired target sequence of a host cell; and/or 2) mutagenize a region of the host cell chromosome (i.e., replace an endogenous sequence with a heterologous sequence), and/or 3) delete target genes; and/or introduce a replicating plasmid into the host.

As used herein, the terms “expression cassette” and “expression vector” refer to nucleic acid constructs generated recombinantly or synthetically, with a series of specified nucleic acid elements that permit transcription of a particular nucleic acid in a target cell. The recombinant expression cassette can be incorporated into a plasmid, chromosome, mitochondrial DNA, plastid DNA, virus, or nucleic acid fragment. Typically, the recombinant expression cassette portion of an expression vector includes, among other sequences, a nucleic acid sequence to be transcribed and a promoter. In preferred embodiments, expression vectors have the ability to incorporate and express heterologous DNA fragments in a host cell. Many prokaryotic and eukaryotic expression vectors are commercially available. Selection of appropriate expression vectors is within the knowledge of those of skill in the art. The term “expression cassette” is used interchangeably herein with “DNA construct,” and their grammatical equivalents. Selection of appropriate expression vectors is within the knowledge of those of skill in the art.

As used herein, the term “vector” refers to a polynucleotide construct designed to introduce nucleic acids into one or more cell types. Vectors include cloning vectors, expression vectors, shuttle vectors, plasmids, cassettes and the like. In some embodiments, the polynucleotide construct comprises a DNA sequence encoding the protease (e.g., precursor or mature protease) that is operably linked to a suitable prosequence (e.g., secretory, etc.) capable of effecting the expression of the DNA in a suitable host.

As used herein, the term “plasmid” refers to a circular double-stranded (ds) DNA construct used as a cloning vector, and which forms an extrachromosomal self-replicating genetic element in some eukaryotes or prokaryotes, or integrates into the host chromosome.

As used herein in the context of introducing a nucleic acid sequence into a cell, the term “introduced” refers to any method suitable for transferring the nucleic acid sequence into the cell. Such methods for introduction include but are not limited to protoplast fusion, transfection, transformation, conjugation, and transduction (See e.g., Ferrari et al., “Genetics,” in Hardwood et al, (eds.), Bacillus, Plenum Publishing Corp., pages 57-72 [1989]).

As used herein, the terms “transformed” and “stably transformed” refer to a cell that has a non-native (heterologous) polynucleotide sequence integrated into its genome or as an episomal plasmid that is maintained for at least two generations.

As used herein, the term “selectable marker-encoding nucleotide sequence” refers to a nucleotide sequence, which is capable of expression in host cells and where expression of the selectable marker confers to cells containing the expressed gene the ability to grow in the presence of a corresponding selective agent or lack of an essential nutrient.

As used herein, the terms “selectable marker” and “selective marker” refer to a nucleic acid (e.g., a gene) capable of expression in host cell which allows for ease of selection of those hosts containing the vector. Examples of such selectable markers include but are not limited to antimicrobials. Thus, the term “selectable marker” refers to genes that provide an indication that a host cell has taken up an incoming DNA of interest or some other reaction has occurred. Typically, selectable markers are genes that confer antimicrobial resistance or a metabolic advantage on the host cell to allow cells containing the exogenous DNA to be distinguished from cells that have not received any exogenous sequence during the transformation. A “residing selectable marker” is one that is located on the chromosome of the microorganism to be transformed. A residing selectable marker encodes a gene that is different from the selectable marker on the transforming DNA construct. Selective markers are well known to those of skill in the art. As indicated above, preferably the marker is an antimicrobial resistant marker (e.g., amp^(R); phleo^(R); spec^(R); kan^(R); ery^(R); tet^(R); cmp^(R); and neo^(R) (See e.g., Guerot-Fleury, Gene, 167:335-337 [1995); Palmeros et al., Gene 247:255-264 [2000]; and Trieu-Cuot et al., Gene, 23:331-341, [1983]). Other markers useful in accordance with the invention include, but are not limited to auxotrophic markers, such as tryptophan; and detection markers, such as β-galactosidase.

As used herein, the term “promoter” refers to a nucleic acid sequence that functions to direct transcription of a downstream gene. In preferred embodiments, the promoter is appropriate to the host cell in which the target gene is being expressed. The promoter, together with other transcriptional and translational regulatory nucleic acid sequences (also termed “control sequences”) is necessary to express a given gene. In general, the transcriptional and translational regulatory sequences include, but are not limited to, promoter sequences, ribosomal binding sites, transcriptional start and stop sequences, translational start and stop sequences, and enhancer or activator sequences.

A nucleic acid is “operably linked” when it is placed into a functional relationship with another nucleic acid sequence. For example, DNA encoding a secretory leader (i.e., a signal peptide), is operably linked to DNA for a polypeptide if it is expressed as a preprotein that participates in the secretion of the polypeptide; a promoter or enhancer is operably linked to a coding sequence if it affects the transcription of the sequence; or a ribosome binding site is operably linked to a coding sequence if it is positioned so as to facilitate translation. Generally, “operably linked” means that the DNA sequences being linked are contiguous, and, in the case of a secretory leader, contiguous and in reading phase. However, enhancers do not have to be contiguous. Linking is accomplished by ligation at convenient restriction sites. If such sites do not exist, the synthetic oligonucleotide adaptors or linkers are used in accordance with conventional practice.

As used herein the term “gene” refers to a polynucleotide (e.g., a DNA segment) that encodes a polypeptide and includes regions preceding and following the coding regions as well as intervening sequences (introns) between individual coding segments (exons).

As used herein, “homologous genes” refers to a pair of genes from different, but usually related species, which correspond to each other and which are identical or very similar to each other. The term encompasses genes that are separated by speciation (i.e., the development of new species) (e.g., orthologous genes), as well as genes that have been separated by genetic duplication (e.g., paralogous genes).

As used herein, “ortholog” and “orthologous genes” refer to genes in different species that have evolved from a common ancestral gene (i.e., a homologous gene) by speciation. Typically, orthologs retain the same function during the course of evolution. Identification of orthologs finds use in the reliable prediction of gene function in newly sequenced genomes.

As used herein, “paralog” and “paralogous genes” refer to genes that are related by duplication within a genome. While orthologs retain the same function through the course of evolution, paralogs evolve new functions, even though some functions are often related to the original one. Examples of paralogous genes include, but are not limited to genes encoding trypsin, chymotrypsin, elastase, and thrombin, which are all serine proteinases and occur together within the same species.

As used herein, “homology” refers to sequence similarity or identity, with identity being preferred. This homology is determined using standard techniques known in the art (See e.g., Smith and Waterman, Adv. Appl. Math., 2:482 [1981]; Needleman and Wunsch, J. Mol. Biol., 48:443 [1970]; Pearson and Lipman, Proc. Natl. Acad.Sci. USA, 85:2444 [1988]; programs such as GAP, BESTFIT, FASTA, and TFASTA in the Wisconsin Genetics Software Package, Genetics Computer Group, Madison, Wis.; and Devereux et al., Nucl. Acid Res., 12:387-395 [1984)).

As used herein, an “analogous sequence” is one wherein the function of the gene is essentially the same as the gene based on a parent gene (e.g., the Cellulomonas strain 69B4 protease). Additionally, analogous genes include at least 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 97%, 98%, 99% or 100% sequence identity with the sequence of the parent gene. Alternately, analogous sequences have an alignment of between 70 to 100% of the genes found in the parent gene (e.g., Cellulomonas strain 69B4 protease) region and/or have at least between 5-10 genes found in the region aligned with the genes in the chromosome containing the parent gene (e.g., the Cellulomonas strain 69B4 chromosome). In additional embodiments more than one of the above properties applies to the sequence. Analogous sequences are determined by known methods of sequence alignment. A commonly used alignment method is BLAST, although as indicated above and below, there are other methods that also find use in aligning sequences.

One example of a useful algorithm is PILEUP. PILEUP creates a multiple sequence alignment from a group of related sequences using progressive, pair-wise alignments. It can also plot a tree showing the clustering relationships used to create the alignment. PILEUP uses a simplification of the progressive alignment method of Feng and Doolittle (Feng and Doolittle, J. Mol. Evol., 35:351-360 [1987]). The method is similar to that described by Higgins and Sharp (Higgins and Sharp, CABIOS 5:151-153 [1989]). Useful PILEUP parameters including a default gap weight of 3.00, a default gap length weight of 0.10, and weighted end gaps.

Another example of a useful algorithm is the BLAST algorithm, described by Altschul et al., (Altschul et al., J. Mol. Biol., 215:403-410 [1990]; and Karlin et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 90:5873-5787 [1993)). A particularly useful BLAST program is the WU-BLAST-2 program (See, Altschul et al., Meth. Enzymol., 266:460-480 [1996]). WU-BLAST-2 uses several search parameters, most of which are set to the default values. The adjustable parameters are set with the following values: overlap span=1, overlap fraction=0.125, word threshold (T)=11. The HSP S and HSP S2 parameters are dynamic values and are established by the program itself depending upon the composition of the particular sequence and composition of the particular database against which the sequence of interest is being searched. However, the values may be adjusted to increase sensitivity. A % amino acid sequence identity value is determined by the number of matching identical residues divided by the total number of residues of the “longer” sequence in the aligned region. The “longer” sequence is the one having the most actual residues in the aligned region (gaps introduced by WU-Blast-2 to maximize the alignment score are ignored).

Thus, “percent (%) nucleic acid sequence identity” is defined as the percentage of nucleotide residues in a candidate sequence that are identical to the nucleotide residues of the starting sequence (i.e., the sequence of interest). A preferred method utilizes the BLASTN module of WU-BLAST-2 set to the default parameters, with overlap span and overlap fraction set to 1 and 0.125, respectively.

As used herein, the term “hybridization” refers to the process by which a strand of nucleic acid joins with a complementary strand through base pairing, as known in the art.

A nucleic acid sequence is considered to be “selectively hybridizable” to a reference nucleic acid sequence if the two sequences specifically hybridize to one another under moderate to high stringency hybridization and wash conditions. Hybridization conditions are based on the melting temperature (Tm) of the nucleic acid binding complex or probe. For example, “maximum stringency” typically occurs at about Tm-5° C. (5° below the Tm of the probe); “high stringency” at about 5-10° C. below the Tm; “intermediate stringency” at about 10-20° C. below the Tm of the probe; and “low stringency” at about 20-25° C. below the Tm. Functionally, maximum stringency conditions may be used to identify sequences having strict identity or near-strict identity with the hybridization probe; while an intermediate or low stringency hybridization can be used to identify or detect polynucleotide sequence homologs.

Moderate and high stringency hybridization conditions are well known in the art. An example of high stringency conditions includes hybridization at about 42° C. in 50% formamide, 5×SSC, 5×Denhardt's solution, 0.5% SDS and 100 μg/ml denatured carrier DNA followed by washing two times in 2×SSC and 0.5% SDS at room temperature and two additional times in 0.1×SSC and 0.5% SDS at 42° C. An example of moderate stringent conditions include an overnight incubation at 37° C. in a solution comprising 20% formamide, 5×SSC (150 mM NaCl, 15 mM trisodium citrate), 50 mM sodium phosphate (pH 7.6), 5×Denhardt's solution, 10% dextran sulfate and 20 mg/ml denatured sheared salmon sperm DNA, followed by washing the filters in 1×SSC at about 37-50° C. Those of skill in the art know how to adjust the temperature, ionic strength, etc. as necessary to accommodate factors such as probe length and the like.

As used herein, “recombinant” includes reference to a cell or vector, that has been modified by the introduction of a heterologous nucleic acid sequence or that the cell is derived from a cell so modified. Thus, for example, recombinant cells express genes that are not found in identical form within the native (non-recombinant) form of the cell or express native genes that are otherwise abnormally expressed, under expressed or not expressed at all as a result of deliberate human intervention. “Recombination,” “recombining,” and generating a “recombined” nucleic acid are generally the assembly of two or more nucleic acid fragments wherein the assembly gives rise to a chimeric gene.

In a preferred embodiment, mutant DNA sequences are generated with site saturation mutagenesis in at least one codon. In another preferred embodiment, site saturation mutagenesis is performed for two or more codons. In a further embodiment, mutant DNA sequences have more than 50%, more than 55%, more than 60%, more than 65%, more than 70%, more than 75%, more than 80%, more than 85%, more than 90%, more than 95%, or more than 98% homology with the wild-type sequence. In alternative embodiments, mutant DNA is generated in vivo using any known mutagenic procedure such as, for example, radiation, nitrosoguanidine and the like. The desired DNA sequence is then isolated and used in the methods provided herein.

As used herein, the term “target sequence” refers to a DNA sequence in the host cell that encodes the sequence where it is desired for the incoming sequence to be inserted into the host cell genome. In some embodiments, the target sequence encodes a functional wild-type gene or operon, while in other embodiments the target sequence encodes a functional mutant gene or operon, or a non-functional gene or operon.

As used herein, a “flanking sequence” refers to any sequence that is either upstream or downstream of the sequence being discussed (e.g., for genes A-B-C, gene B is flanked by the A and C gene sequences). In a preferred embodiment, the incoming sequence is flanked by a homology box on each side. In another embodiment, the incoming sequence and the homology boxes comprise a unit that is flanked by stuffer sequence on each side. In some embodiments, a flanking sequence is present on only a single side (either 3′ or 5′), but in preferred embodiments, it is on each side of the sequence being flanked. In some embodiments, a flanking sequence is present on only a single side (either 3′ or 5′), while in preferred embodiments, it is present on each side of the sequence being flanked.

As used herein, the term “stuffer sequence” refers to any extra DNA that flanks homology boxes (typically vector sequences). However, the term encompasses any non-homologous DNA sequence. Not to be limited by any theory, a stuffer sequence provides a noncritical target for a cell to initiate DNA uptake.

As used herein, the terms “amplification” and “gene amplification” refer to a process by which specific DNA sequences are disproportionately replicated such that the amplified gene becomes present in a higher copy number than was initially present in the genome. In some embodiments, selection of cells by growth in the presence of a drug (e.g., an inhibitor of an inhibitable enzyme) results in the amplification of either the endogenous gene encoding the gene product required for growth in the presence of the drug or by amplification of exogenous (i.e., input) sequences encoding this gene product, or both.

“Amplification” is a special case of nucleic acid replication involving template specificity. It is to be contrasted with non-specific template replication (i.e., replication that is template-dependent but not dependent on a specific template). Template specificity is here distinguished from fidelity of replication (i.e., synthesis of the proper polynucleotide sequence) and nucleotide (ribo- or deoxyribo-) specificity. Template specificity is frequently described in terms of “target” specificity. Target sequences are “targets” in the sense that they are sought to be sorted out from other nucleic acid. Amplification techniques have been designed primarily for this sorting out.

As used herein, the term “co-amplification” refers to the introduction into a single cell of an amplifiable marker in conjunction with other gene sequences (i.e., comprising one or more non-selectable genes such as those contained within an expression vector) and the application of appropriate selective pressure such that the cell amplifies both the amplifiable marker and the other, non-selectable gene sequences. The amplifiable marker may be physically linked to the other gene sequences or alternatively two separate pieces of DNA, one containing the amplifiable marker and the other containing the non-selectable marker, may be introduced into the same cell.

As used herein, the terms “amplifiable marker,” “amplifiable gene,” and “amplification vector” refer to a gene or a vector encoding a gene, which permits the amplification of that gene under appropriate growth conditions.

“Template specificity” is achieved in most amplification techniques by the choice of enzyme. Amplification enzymes are enzymes that, under conditions they are used, will process only specific sequences of nucleic acid in a heterogeneous mixture of nucleic acid. For example, in the case of Qβ replicase, MDV-1 RNA is the specific template for the replicase (See e.g., Kacian et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 69:3038 [1972]) and other nucleic acids are not replicated by this amplification enzyme. Similarly, in the case of T7 RNA polymerase, this amplification enzyme has a stringent specificity for its own promoters (See, Chamberlin et al., Nature 228:227 [1970)). In the case of T4 DNA ligase, the enzyme will not ligate the two oligonucleotides or polynucleotides, where there is a mismatch between the oligonucleotide or polynucleotide substrate and the template at the ligation junction (See, Wu and Wallace, Genomics 4:560 [1989]). Finally, Taq and Pfu polymerases, by virtue of their ability to function at high temperature, are found to display high specificity for the sequences bounded and thus defined by the primers; the high temperature results in thermodynamic conditions that favor primer hybridization with the target sequences and not hybridization with non-target sequences.

As used herein, the term “amplifiable nucleic acid” refers to nucleic acids which may be amplified by any amplification method. It is contemplated that “amplifiable nucleic acid” will usually comprise “sample template.”

As used herein, the term “sample template” refers to nucleic acid originating from a sample which is analyzed for the presence of “target” (defined below). In contrast, “background template” is used in reference to nucleic acid other than sample template, which may or may not be present in a sample. Background template is most often inadvertent. It may be the result of carryover, or it may be due to the presence of nucleic acid contaminants sought to be purified away from the sample. For example, nucleic acids from organisms other than those to be detected may be present as background in a test sample.

As used herein, the term “primer” refers to an oligonucleotide, whether occurring naturally as in a purified restriction digest or produced synthetically, which is capable of acting as a point of initiation of synthesis when placed under conditions in which synthesis of a primer extension product which is complementary to a nucleic acid strand is induced, (i.e., in the presence of nucleotides and an inducing agent such as DNA polymerase and at a suitable temperature and pH). The primer is preferably single stranded for maximum efficiency in amplification, but may alternatively be double stranded. If double stranded, the primer is first treated to separate its strands before being used to prepare extension products. Preferably, the primer is an oligodeoxyribonucleotide. The primer must be sufficiently long to prime the synthesis of extension products in the presence of the inducing agent. The exact lengths of the primers will depend on many factors, including temperature, source of primer and the use of the method.

As used herein, the term “probe” refers to an oligonucleotide (i.e., a sequence of nucleotides), whether occurring naturally as in a purified restriction digest or produced synthetically, recombinantly or by PCR amplification, which is capable of hybridizing to another oligonucleotide of interest. A probe may be single-stranded or double-stranded. Probes are useful in the detection, identification and isolation of particular gene sequences. It is contemplated that any probe used in the present invention will be labeled with any “reporter molecule,” so that is detectable in any detection system, including, but not limited to enzyme (e.g., ELISA, as well as enzyme-based histochemical assays), fluorescent, radioactive, and luminescent systems. It is not intended that the present invention be limited to any particular detection system or label.

As used herein, the term “target,” when used in reference to the polymerase chain reaction, refers to the region of nucleic acid bounded by the primers used for polymerase chain reaction. Thus, the “target” is sought to be sorted out from other nucleic acid sequences. A “segment” is defined as a region of nucleic acid within the target sequence.

As used herein, the term “polymerase chain reaction” (“PCR”) refers to the methods of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,683,195 4,683,202, and 4,965,188, hereby incorporated by reference, which include methods for increasing the concentration of a segment of a target sequence in a mixture of genomic DNA without cloning or purification, as known to those of skill in the art. Because the desired amplified segments of the target sequence become the predominant sequences (in terms of concentration) in the mixture, they are said to be “PCR amplified”.

As used herein, the term “amplification reagents” refers to those reagents (deoxyribonucleotide triphosphates, buffer, etc.), needed for amplification except for primers, nucleic acid template and the amplification enzyme. Typically, amplification reagents along with other reaction components are placed and contained in a reaction vessel (test tube, microwell, etc.).

With PCR, it is possible to amplify a single copy of a specific target sequence in genomic DNA to a level detectable by several different methodologies (e.g., hybridization with a labeled probe; incorporation of biotinylated primers followed by avidin-enzyme conjugate detection; incorporation of ³²P-labeled deoxynucleotide triphosphates, such as dCTP or dATP, into the amplified segment). In addition to genomic DNA, any oligonucleotide or polynucleotide sequence can be amplified with the appropriate set of primer molecules. In particular, the amplified segments created by the PCR process itself are, themselves, efficient templates for subsequent PCR amplifications.

As used herein, the terms “PCR product,” “PCR fragment,” and “amplification product” refer to the resultant mixture of compounds after two or more cycles of the PCR steps of denaturation, annealing and extension are complete. These terms encompass the case where there has been amplification of one or more segments of one or more target sequences.

As used herein, the term “RT-PCR” refers to the replication and amplification of RNA sequences. In this method, reverse transcription is coupled to PCR, most often using a one enzyme procedure in which a thermostable polymerase is employed, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,770, herein incorporated by reference. In RT-PCR, the RNA template is converted to cDNA due to the reverse transcriptase activity of the polymerase, and then amplified using the polymerizing activity of the polymerase (i.e., as in other PCR methods).

As used herein, the terms “restriction endonucleases” and “restriction enzymes” refer to bacterial enzymes, each of which cut double-stranded DNA at or near a specific nucleotide sequence.

A “restriction site” refers to a nucleotide sequence recognized and cleaved by a given restriction endonuclease and is frequently the site for insertion of DNA fragments. In certain embodiments of the invention restriction sites are engineered into the selective marker and into 5′ and 3′ ends of the DNA construct.

As used herein, the term “chromosomal integration” refers to the process whereby an incoming sequence is introduced into the chromosome of a host cell. The homologous regions of the transforming DNA align with homologous regions of the chromosome. Subsequently, the sequence between the homology boxes is replaced by the incoming sequence in a double crossover (i.e., homologous recombination). In some embodiments of the present invention, homologous sections of an inactivating chromosomal segment of a DNA construct align with the flanking homologous regions of the indigenous chromosomal region of the Bacillus chromosome. Subsequently, the indigenous chromosomal region is deleted by the DNA construct in a double crossover (i.e., homologous recombination).

“Homologous recombination” means the exchange of DNA fragments between two DNA molecules or paired chromosomes at the site of identical or nearly identical nucleotide sequences. In a preferred embodiment, chromosomal integration is homologous recombination.

“Homologous sequences” as used herein means a nucleic acid or polypeptide sequence having 100%, 99%, 98%, 97%, 96%, 95%, 94%, 93%, 92%, 91%, 90%, 88%, 85%, 80%, 75%, or 70% sequence identity to another nucleic acid or polypeptide sequence when optimally aligned for comparison. In some embodiments, homologous sequences have between 85% and 100% sequence identity, while in other embodiments there is between 90% and 100% sequence identity, and in more preferred embodiments, there is 95% and 100% sequence identity.

As used herein “amino acid” refers to peptide or protein sequences or portions thereof. The terms “protein,” “peptide,” and “polypeptide” are used interchangeably.

As used herein, “protein of interest” and “polypeptide of interest” refer to a protein/polypeptide that is desired and/or being assessed. In some embodiments, the “protein of interest” is a “parent protein” (i.e., the starting protein). In some embodiments, the parent protein is a wild-type enzyme that is used as a starting point for protein engineering/design. In some embodiments, the protein of interest is expressed intracellularly, while in other embodiments, it is a secreted polypeptide. In particularly preferred embodiments, these enzymes include the serine proteases and metalloproteases described herein. In some embodiments, the protein of interest is a secreted polypeptide fused to a signal peptide (i.e., an amino-terminal extension on a protein to be secreted). Nearly all secreted proteins use an amino-terminal protein extension, which plays a crucial role in the targeting to and translocation of precursor proteins across the membrane. This extension is proteolytically removed by a signal peptidase during or immediately following membrane transfer.

As used herein, the term “heterologous protein” refers to a protein or polypeptide that does not naturally occur in the host cell. Examples of heterologous proteins include enzymes such as hydrolases including proteases. In some embodiments, the gene encoding the proteins are naturally occurring genes, while in other embodiments, mutated and/or synthetic genes are used.

As used herein, “homologous protein” refers to a protein or polypeptide native or naturally occurring in a cell. In preferred embodiments, the cell is a Gram-positive cell, while in particularly preferred embodiments, the cell is a Bacillus host cell. In alternative embodiments, the homologous protein is a native protein produced by other organisms, including but not limited to E. coli, Cellulomonas, Bacillus, Streptomyces, Trichoderma, and Aspergillus. The invention encompasses host cells producing the homologous protein via recombinant DNA technology.

As used herein, an “operon region” comprises a group of contiguous genes that are transcribed as a single transcription unit from a common promoter, and are thereby subject to co-regulation. In some embodiments, the operon includes a regulator gene. In most preferred embodiments, operons that are highly expressed as measured by RNA levels, but have an unknown or unnecessary function are used.

As used herein, an “antimicrobial region” is a region containing at least one gene that encodes an antimicrobial protein.

A polynucleotide is said to “encode” an RNA or a polypeptide if, in its native state or when manipulated by methods known to those of skill in the art, it can be transcribed and/or translated to produce the RNA, the polypeptide or a fragment thereof. The anti-sense strand of such a nucleic acid is also said to encode the sequences.

As is known in the art, a DNA can be transcribed by an RNA polymerase to produce RNA, but an RNA can be reverse transcribed by reverse transcriptase to produce a DNA. Thus a DNA can encode a RNA and vice versa.

The term “regulatory segment” or “regulatory sequence” or “expression control sequence” refers to a polynucleotide sequence of DNA that is operatively linked with a polynucleotide sequence of DNA that encodes the amino acid sequence of a polypeptide chain to effect the expression of the encoded amino acid sequence. The regulatory sequence can inhibit, repress, or promote the expression of the operably linked polynucleotide sequence encoding the amino acid.

“Host strain” or “host cell” refers to a suitable host for an expression vector comprising DNA according to the present invention.

An enzyme is “overexpressed” in a host cell if the enzyme is expressed in the cell at a higher level that the level at which it is expressed in a corresponding wild-type cell.

The terms “protein” and “polypeptide” are used interchangeability herein. The 3-letter code for amino acids as defined in conformity with the IUPAC-IUB Joint Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature (JCBN) is used through out this disclosure. It is also understood that a polypeptide may be coded for by more than one nucleotide sequence due to the degeneracy of the genetic code.

A “prosequence” is an amino acid sequence between the signal sequence and mature protease that is necessary for the secretion of the protease. Cleavage of the pro sequence will result in a mature active protease.

The term “signal sequence” or “signal peptide” refers to any sequence of nucleotides and/or amino acids that participate in the secretion of the mature or precursor forms of the protein. This definition of signal sequence is a functional one, meant to include all those amino acid sequences encoded by the N-terminal portion of the protein gene, which participate in the effectuation of the secretion of protein. They are often, but not universally, bound to the N-terminal portion of a protein or to the N-terminal portion of a precursor protein. The signal sequence may be endogenous or exogenous. The signal sequence may be that normally associated with the protein (e.g., protease), or may be from a gene encoding another secreted protein. One exemplary exogenous signal sequence comprises the first seven amino acid residues of the signal sequence from B. subtilis subtilisin fused to the remainder of the signal sequence of the subtilisin from B. lentus (ATCC 21536).

The term “hybrid signal sequence” refers to signal sequences in which part of sequence is obtained from the expression host fused to the signal sequence of the gene to be expressed. In some embodiments, synthetic sequences are utilized.

The term “substantially the same signal activity” refers to the signal activity, as indicated by substantially the same secretion of the protease into the fermentation medium, for example a fermentation medium protease level being at least 50%, at least 60%, at least 70%, at least 80%, at least 90%, at least 95%, at least 98% of the secreted protease levels in the fermentation medium as provided by the signal sequence of SEQ ID NO:9.

The term “mature” form of a protein or peptide refers to the final functional form of the protein or peptide. To exemplify, a mature form of the ASP protease of the present invention at least includes the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:8, while a mature form of the NprE protease of the present invention at least includes the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:3.

The term “precursor” form of a protein or peptide refers to a mature form of the protein having a prosequence operably linked to the amino or carbonyl terminus of the protein. The precursor may also have a “signal” sequence operably linked, to the amino terminus of the prosequence. The precursor may also have additional polynucleotides that are involved in post-translational activity (e.g., polynucleotides cleaved therefrom to leave the mature form of a protein or peptide).

“Naturally occurring enzyme” and “naturally occurring protein” refer to an enzyme or protein having the unmodified amino acid sequence identical to that found in nature. Naturally occurring enzymes include native enzymes, those enzymes naturally expressed or found in the particular microorganism.

The terms “derived from” and “obtained from” refer to not only an enzyme (e.g., protease) produced or producible by a strain of the organism in question, but also an enzyme encoded by a DNA sequence isolated from such strain and produced in a host organism containing such DNA sequence. Additionally, the term refers to a enzyme that is encoded by a DNA sequence of synthetic and/or cDNA origin and which has the identifying characteristics of the enzyme in question.

A “derivative” within the scope of this definition generally retains the characteristic proteolytic activity observed in the wild-type, native or parent form to the extent that the derivative is useful for similar purposes as the wild-type, native or parent form. Functional enzyme derivatives encompass naturally occurring, synthetically or recombinantly produced peptides or peptide fragments having the general characteristics of the parent enzyme.

The term “functional derivative” refers to a derivative of a nucleic acid having the functional characteristics of a nucleic acid encoding an enzyme. Functional derivatives of a nucleic acid, which encode enzymes provided herein encompass naturally occurring, synthetically or recombinantly produced nucleic acids or fragments. Wild type nucleic acid encoding enzymes according to the present invention include naturally occurring alleles and homologues based on the degeneracy of the genetic code known in the art.

The term “identical” in the context of two nucleic acids or polypeptide sequences refers to the residues in the two sequences that are the same when aligned for maximum correspondence, as measured using one of the following sequence comparison or analysis algorithms.

The term “optimal alignment” refers to the alignment giving the highest percent identity score. “Percent sequence identity,” “percent amino acid sequence identity,” “percent gene sequence identity,” and/or “percent nucleic acid/polynucloetide sequence identity,” with respect to two amino acid, polynucleotide and/or gene sequences (as appropriate), refer to the percentage of residues that are identical in the two sequences when the sequences are optimally aligned. Thus, 80% amino acid sequence identity means that 80% of the amino acids in two optimally aligned polypeptide sequences are identical.

The phrase “substantially identical” in the context of two nucleic acids or polypeptides thus refers to a polynucleotide or polypeptide that comprising at least 70% sequence identity, preferably at least 75%, preferably at least 80%, preferably at least 85%, preferably at least 90%, preferably at least 95%, preferably at least 97%, preferably at least 98% and preferably at least 99% sequence identity as compared to a reference sequence using the programs or algorithms (e.g., BLAST, ALIGN, CLUSTAL) using standard parameters. One indication that two polypeptides are substantially identical is that the first polypeptide is immunologically cross-reactive with the second polypeptide. Typically, polypeptides that differ by conservative amino acid substitutions are immunologically cross-reactive. Thus, a polypeptide is substantially identical to a second polypeptide, for example, where the two peptides differ only by a conservative substitution. Another indication that two nucleic acid sequences are substantially identical is that the two molecules hybridize to each other under stringent conditions (e.g., within a range of medium to high stringency).

The term “isolated” or “purified” refers to a material that is removed from its original environment (e.g., the natural environment if it is naturally occurring). For example, the material is said to be “purified” when it is present in a particular composition in a higher or lower concentration than exists in a naturally occurring or wild type organism or in combination with components not normally present upon expression from a naturally occurring or wild type organism. For example, a naturally-occurring polynucleotide or polypeptide present in a living animal is not isolated, but the same polynucleotide or polypeptide, separated from some or all of the coexisting materials in the natural system, is isolated. In some embodiments, such polynucleotides are part of a vector, and/or such polynucleotides or polypeptides are part of a composition, and still be isolated in that such vector or composition is not part of its natural environment. In some preferred embodiments, a nucleic acid or protein is said to be purified, for example, if it gives rise to essentially one band in an electrophoretic gel or blot.

The term “isolated,” when used in reference to a DNA sequence, refers to a DNA sequence that has been removed from its natural genetic milieu and is thus free of other extraneous or unwanted coding sequences, and is in a form suitable for use within genetically engineered protein production systems. Such isolated molecules are those that are separated from their natural environment and include cDNA and genomic clones. Isolated DNA molecules of the present invention are free of other genes with which they are ordinarily associated, but may include naturally occurring 5′ and 3′ untranslated regions such as promoters and terminators. The identification of associated regions will be evident to one of ordinary skill in the art (See e.g., Dynan and Tijan, Nature 316:774-78, 1985). The term “an isolated DNA sequence” is alternatively referred to as “a cloned DNA sequence”.

The term “isolated,” when used in reference to a protein, refers to a protein that is found in a condition other than its native environment. In a preferred form, the isolated protein is substantially free of other proteins, particularly other homologous proteins. An isolated protein is more than 10% pure, preferably more than 20% pure, and even more preferably more than 30% pure, as determined by SDS-PAGE. Further aspects of the invention encompass the protein in a highly purified form (i.e., more than 40% pure, more than 60% pure, more than 80% pure, more than 90% pure, more than 95% pure, more than 97% pure, and even more than 99% pure), as determined by SDS-PAGE.

As used herein, the term, “combinatorial mutagenesis” refers to methods in which libraries of variants of a starting sequence are generated. In these libraries, the variants contain one or several mutations chosen from a predefined set of mutations. In addition, the methods provide means to introduce random mutations, which were not members of the predefined set of mutations. In some embodiments, the methods include those set forth in U.S. application Ser. No. 09/699,250, filed Oct. 26, 2000, hereby incorporated by reference. In alternative embodiments, combinatorial mutagenesis methods encompass commercially available kits (e.g., QUIKCHANGE® Multisite, Stratagene, La Jolla, Calif.).

As used herein, the term “library of mutants” refers to a population of cells which are identical in most of their genome but include different homologues of one or more genes. Such libraries can be used, for example, to identify genes or operons with improved traits.

As used herein, the term “starting gene” refers to a gene of interest that encodes a protein of interest that is to be improved and/or changed using the present invention.

As used herein, the term “variant” refers to a protein that has been derived from a precursor protein (e.g., “parent” protein) by addition, substitution, or deletion of one or more amino acids. In some embodiments, the variant comprises at least one modification that comprises a change in charge, as compared to the precursor protein. In some preferred embodiments, the precursor protein is parent protein that is a wild-type protein.

As used herein, the terms “multiple sequence alignment” and “MSA” refer to the sequences of multiple homologs of a starting gene that are aligned using an algorithm (e.g., Clustal W).

As used herein, the terms “consensus sequence” and “canonical sequence” refer to an archetypical amino acid sequence against which all variants of a particular protein or sequence of interest are compared. The terms also refer to a sequence that sets forth the nucleotides that are most often present in a DNA sequence of interest. For each position of a gene, the consensus sequence gives the amino acid that is most abundant in that position in the MSA.

As used herein, the term “consensus mutation” refers to a difference in the sequence of a starting gene and a consensus sequence. Consensus mutations are identified by comparing the sequences of the starting gene and the consensus sequence obtained from a MSA. In some embodiments, consensus mutations are introduced into the starting gene such that it becomes more similar to the consensus sequence. Consensus mutations also include amino acid changes that change an amino acid in a starting gene to an amino acid that is more frequently found in an MSA at that position relative to the frequency of that amino acid in the starting gene. Thus, the term consensus mutation comprises all single amino acid changes that replace an amino acid of the starting gene with an amino acid that is more abundant than the amino acid in the MSA.

As used herein, the term “initial hit” refers to a variant that was identified by screening a combinatorial consensus mutagenesis library. In preferred embodiments, initial hits have improved performance characteristics, as compared to the starting gene.

As used herein, the term “improved hit” refers to a variant that was identified by screening an enhanced combinatorial consensus mutagenesis library.

As used herein, the terms “improving mutation” and “performance-enhancing mutation” refer to a mutation that leads to improved performance when it is introduced into the starting gene. In some preferred embodiments, these mutations are identified by sequencing hits identified during the screening step of the method. In most embodiments, mutations that are more frequently found in hits are likely to be improving mutations, as compared to an unscreened combinatorial consensus mutagenesis library.

As used herein, the term “enhanced combinatorial consensus mutagenesis library” refers to a CCM library that is designed and constructed based on screening and/or sequencing results from an earlier round of CCM mutagenesis and screening. In some embodiments, the enhanced CCM library is based on the sequence of an initial hit resulting from an earlier round of CCM. In additional embodiments, the enhanced CCM is designed such that mutations that were frequently observed in initial hits from earlier rounds of mutagenesis and screening are favored. In some preferred embodiments, this is accomplished by omitting primers that encode performance-reducing mutations or by increasing the concentration of primers that encode performance-enhancing mutations relative to other primers that were used in earlier CCM libraries.

As used herein, the term “performance-reducing mutations” refer to mutations in the combinatorial consensus mutagenesis library that are less frequently found in hits resulting from screening as compared to an unscreened combinatorial consensus mutagenesis library. In preferred embodiments, the screening process removes and/or reduces the abundance of variants that contain “performance-reducing mutations.”

As used herein, the term “functional assay” refers to an assay that provides an indication of a protein's activity. In particularly preferred embodiments, the term refers to assay systems in which a protein is analyzed for its ability to function in its usual capacity. For example, in the case of enzymes, a functional assay involves determining the effectiveness of the enzyme in catalyzing a reaction.

As used herein, the term “target property” refers to the property of the starting gene that is to be altered. It is not intended that the present invention be limited to any particular target property. However, in some preferred embodiments, the target property is the stability of a gene product (e.g., resistance to denaturation, proteolysis or other degradative factors), while in other embodiments, the level of production in a production host is altered. Indeed, it is contemplated that any property of a starting gene will find use in the present invention.

The term “property” or grammatical equivalents thereof in the context of a nucleic acid, as used herein, refer to any characteristic or attribute of a nucleic acid that can be selected or detected. These properties include, but are not limited to, a property affecting binding to a polypeptide, a property conferred on a cell comprising a particular nucleic acid, a property affecting gene transcription (e.g., promoter strength, promoter recognition, promoter regulation, enhancer function), a property affecting RNA processing (e.g., RNA splicing, RNA stability, RNA conformation, and post-transcriptional modification), a property affecting translation (e.g., level, regulation, binding of mRNA to ribosomal proteins, post-translational modification). For example, a binding site for a transcription factor, polymerase, regulatory factor, etc., of a nucleic acid may be altered to produce desired characteristics or to identify undesirable characteristics.

The terms “property,” “property of interest,” or grammatical equivalents thereof in the context of a polypeptide, as used herein, refer to any characteristic or attribute of a polypeptide that can be selected or detected. These properties include, but are not limited to oxidative stability, substrate specificity, catalytic activity, thermal stability, alkaline stability, pH activity profile, resistance to proteolytic degradation, K_(M), k_(cat), k_(cat)/k_(M) ratio, protein folding, inducing an immune response, ability to bind to a ligand, ability to bind to a receptor, ability to be secreted, ability to be displayed on the surface of a cell, ability to oligomerize, ability to signal, ability to stimulate cell proliferation, ability to inhibit cell proliferation, ability to induce apoptosis, ability to be modified by phosphorylation or glycosylation, ability to treat disease.

As used herein, the term “screening” has its usual meaning in the art and is, in general a multi-step process. In the first step, a mutant nucleic acid or variant polypeptide therefrom is provided. In the second step, a property of the mutant nucleic acid or variant polypeptide is determined. In the third step, the determined property is compared to a property of the corresponding parent nucleic acid, to the property of the corresponding naturally occurring polypeptide or to the property of the starting material (e.g., the initial sequence) for the generation of the mutant nucleic acid.

It will be apparent to the skilled artisan that the screening procedure for obtaining a nucleic acid or protein with an altered property depends upon the property of the starting material the modification of which the generation of the mutant nucleic acid is intended to facilitate. The skilled artisan will therefore appreciate that the invention is not limited to any specific property to be screened for and that the following description of properties lists illustrative examples only. Methods for screening for any particular property are generally described in the art. For example, one can measure binding, pH, specificity, etc., before and after mutation, wherein a change indicates an alteration. Preferably, the screens are performed in a high-throughput manner, including multiple samples being screened simultaneously, including, but not limited to assays utilizing chips, phage display, and multiple substrates and/or indicators.

As used herein, in some embodiments, screens encompass selection steps in which variants of interest are enriched from a population of variants. Examples of these embodiments include the selection of variants that confer a growth advantage to the host organism, as well as phage display or any other method of display, where variants can be captured from a population of variants based on their binding or catalytic properties. In a preferred embodiment, a library of variants is exposed to stress (heat, protease, denaturation) and subsequently variants that are still intact are identified in a screen or enriched by selection. It is intended that the term encompass any suitable means for selection. Indeed, it is not intended that the present invention be limited to any particular method of screening.

As used herein, the term “targeted randomization” refers to a process that produces a plurality of sequences where one or several positions have been randomized. In some embodiments, randomization is complete (i.e., all four nucleotides, A, T, G, and C can occur at a randomized position. In alternative embodiments, randomization of a nucleotide is limited to a subset of the four nucleotides. Targeted randomization can be applied to one or several codons of a sequence, coding for one or several proteins of interest. When expressed, the resulting libraries produce protein populations in which one or more amino acid positions can contain a mixture of all 20 amino acids or a subset of amino acids, as determined by the randomization scheme of the randomized codon. In some embodiments, the individual members of a population resulting from targeted randomization differ in the number of amino acids, due to targeted or random insertion or deletion of codons. In further embodiments, synthetic amino acids are included in the protein populations produced. In some preferred embodiments, the majority of members of a population resulting from targeted randomization show greater sequence homology to the consensus sequence than the starting gene. In some embodiments, the sequence encodes one or more proteins of interest. In alternative embodiments, the proteins have differing biological functions. In some preferred embodiments, the incoming sequence comprises at least one selectable marker.

The terms “modified sequence” and “modified genes” are used interchangeably herein to refer to a sequence that includes a deletion, insertion or interruption of naturally occurring nucleic acid sequence. In some preferred embodiments, the expression product of the modified sequence is a truncated protein (e.g., if the modification is a deletion or interruption of the sequence). In some particularly preferred embodiments, the truncated protein retains biological activity. In alternative embodiments, the expression product of the modified sequence is an elongated protein (e.g., modifications comprising an insertion into the nucleic acid sequence). In some embodiments, an insertion leads to a truncated protein (e.g., when the insertion results in the formation of a stop codon). Thus, an insertion may result in either a truncated protein or an elongated protein as an expression product.

As used herein, the terms “mutant sequence” and “mutant gene” are used interchangeably and refer to a sequence that has an alteration in at least one codon occurring in a host cell's wild-type sequence. The expression product of the mutant sequence is a protein with an altered amino acid sequence relative to the wild-type. The expression product may have an altered functional capacity (e.g., enhanced enzymatic activity).

The terms “mutagenic primer” or “mutagenic oligonucleotide” (used interchangeably herein) are intended to refer to oligonucleotide compositions which correspond to a portion of the template sequence and which are capable of hybridizing thereto. With respect to mutagenic primers, the primer will not precisely match the template nucleic acid, the mismatch or mismatches in the primer being used to introduce the desired mutation into the nucleic acid library. As used herein, “non-mutagenic primer” or “non-mutagenic oligonucleotide” refers to oligonucleotide compositions that match precisely to the template nucleic acid. In one embodiment of the invention, only mutagenic primers are used. In another preferred embodiment of the invention, the primers are designed so that for at least one region at which a mutagenic primer has been included, there is also non-mutagenic primer included in the oligonucleotide mixture. By adding a mixture of mutagenic primers and non-mutagenic primers corresponding to at least one of the mutagenic primers, it is possible to produce a resulting nucleic acid library in which a variety of combinatorial mutational patterns are presented. For example, if it is desired that some of the members of the mutant nucleic acid library retain their parent sequence at certain positions while other members are mutant at such sites, the non-mutagenic primers provide the ability to obtain a specific level of non-mutant members within the nucleic acid library for a given residue. The methods of the invention employ mutagenic and non-mutagenic oligonucleotides which are generally between 10-50 bases in length, more preferably about 15-45 bases in length. However, it may be necessary to use primers that are either shorter than 10 bases or longer than 50 bases to obtain the mutagenesis result desired. With respect to corresponding mutagenic and non-mutagenic primers, it is not necessary that the corresponding oligonucleotides be of identical length, but only that there is overlap in the region corresponding to the mutation to be added.

In some embodiments, primers are added in a pre-defined ratio. For example, if it is desired that the resulting library have a significant level of a certain specific mutation and a lesser amount of a different mutation at the same or different site, by adjusting the amount of primer added, it is possible to produce the desired biased library. Alternatively, by adding lesser or greater amounts of non-mutagenic primers, it is possible to adjust the frequency with which the corresponding mutation(s) are produced in the mutant nucleic acid library.

As used herein, the phrase “contiguous mutations” refers to mutations that are presented within the same oligonucleotide primer. For example, contiguous mutations may be adjacent or nearby each other, however, they will be introduced into the resulting mutant template nucleic acids by the same primer.

As used herein, the phrase “discontiguous mutations” refers to mutations that are presented in separate oligonucleotide primers. For example, discontiguous mutations will be introduced into the resulting mutant template nucleic acids by separately prepared oligonucleotide primers.

The terms “wild-type sequence,” “wild-type nucleic acid sequence,” and “wild-type gene” are used interchangeably herein, to refer to a sequence that is native or naturally occurring in a host cell. In some embodiments, the wild-type sequence refers to a sequence of interest that is the starting point of a protein-engineering project. The wild-type sequence may encode either a homologous or heterologous protein. A homologous protein is one the host cell would produce without intervention. A heterologous protein is one that the host cell would not produce but for the intervention.

The term “oxidation stable” refers to proteases of the present invention that retain a specified amount of enzymatic activity over a given period of time under conditions prevailing during the proteolytic, hydrolyzing, cleaning or other process of the invention, for example while exposed to or contacted with bleaching agents or oxidizing agents. In some embodiments, the proteases retain at least about 50%, about 60%, about 70%, about 75%, about 80%, about 85%, about 90%, about 92%, about 95%, about 96%, about 97%, about 98%, or about 99% proteolytic activity after contact with a bleaching or oxidizing agent over a given time period, for example, at least 1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 8 minutes, 12 minutes, 16 minutes, 20 minutes, etc.

The term “chelator stable” refers to proteases of the present invention that retain a specified amount of enzymatic activity over a given period of time under conditions prevailing during the proteolytic, hydrolyzing, cleaning or other process of the invention, for example while exposed to or contacted with chelating agents. In some embodiments, the proteases retain at least about 50%, about 60%, about 70%, about 75%, about 80%, about 85%, about 90%, about 92%, about 95%, about 96%, about 97%, about 98%, or about 99% proteolytic activity after contact with a chelating agent over a given time period, for example, at least 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 40 minutes, 60 minutes, 100 minutes, etc.

The terms “thermally stable” and “thermostable” refer to proteases of the present invention that retain a specified amount of enzymatic activity after exposure to identified temperatures over a given period of time under conditions prevailing during the proteolytic, hydrolyzing, cleaning or other process of the invention, for example while exposed altered temperatures. Altered temperatures include increased or decreased temperatures. In some embodiments, the proteases retain at least about 50%, about 60%, about 70%, about 75%, about 80%, about 85%, about 90%, about 92%, about 95%, about 96%, about 97%, about 98%, or about 99% proteolytic activity after exposure to altered temperatures over a given time period, for example, at least 60 minutes, 120 minutes, 180 minutes, 240 minutes, 300 minutes, etc.

The term “enhanced stability” in the context of an oxidation, chelator, thermal and/or pH stable protease refers to a higher retained proteolytic activity over time as compared to other serine proteases (e.g., subtilisin proteases) and/or wild-type enzymes.

The term “diminished stability” in the context of an oxidation, chelator, thermal and/or pH stable protease refers to a lower retained proteolytic activity over time as compared to other serine proteases (e.g., subtilisin proteases) and/or wild-type enzymes.

As used herein, the term “cleaning composition” includes, unless otherwise indicated, granular or powder-form all-purpose or “heavy-duty” washing agents, especially cleaning detergents; liquid, gel or paste-form all-purpose washing agents, especially the so-called heavy-duty liquid types; liquid fine-fabric detergents; hand dishwashing agents or light duty dishwashing agents, especially those of the high-foaming type; machine dishwashing agents, including the various tablet, granular, liquid and rinse-aid types for household and institutional use; liquid cleaning and disinfecting agents, including antibacterial hand-wash types, cleaning bars, mouthwashes, denture cleaners, car or carpet shampoos, bathroom cleaners; hair shampoos and hair-rinses; shower gels and foam baths and metal cleaners; as well as cleaning auxiliaries such as bleach additives and “stain-stick” or pre-treat types.

Unless otherwise noted, all component or composition levels are in reference to the active level of that component or composition, and are exclusive of impurities, for example, residual solvents or by-products, which may be present in commercially available sources.

Enzyme components weights are based on total active protein. All percentages and ratios are calculated by weight unless otherwise indicated. All percentages and ratios are calculated based on the total composition unless otherwise indicated.

The term “cleaning activity” refers to the cleaning performance achieved by the protease under conditions prevailing during the proteolytic, hydrolyzing, cleaning or other process of the invention. In some embodiments, cleaning performance is determined by the application of various cleaning assays concerning enzyme sensitive stains, for example grass, blood, milk, or egg protein as determined by various chromatographic, spectrophotometric or other quantitative methodologies after subjection of the stains to standard wash conditions. Exemplary assays include, but are not limited to those described in WO 99/34011, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,605,458 (both of which are herein incorporated by reference), as well as those methods included in the Examples.

The term “cleaning effective amount” of a protease refers to the quantity of protease described hereinbefore that achieves a desired level of enzymatic activity in a specific cleaning composition. Such effective amounts are readily ascertained by one of ordinary skill in the art and are based on many factors, such as the particular protease used, the cleaning application, the specific composition of the cleaning composition, and whether a liquid or dry (e.g., granular, bar) composition is required, etc.

The term “cleaning adjunct materials” as used herein, means any liquid, solid or gaseous material selected for the particular type of cleaning composition desired and the form of the product (e.g., liquid, granule, powder, bar, paste, spray, tablet, gel; or foam composition), which materials are also preferably compatible with the protease enzyme used in the composition. In some embodiments, granular compositions are in “compact” form, while in other embodiments, the liquid compositions are in a “concentrated” form.

The terms “enhanced performance” and “improved wash performance” in the context of cleaning activity refer to an increased or greater cleaning activity of certain enzyme sensitive stains such as egg, milk, grass or blood, as determined by usual evaluation after a standard wash cycle and/or multiple wash cycles.

The term “diminished performance” in the context of cleaning activity refers to an decreased or lesser cleaning activity of certain enzyme sensitive stains such as egg, milk, grass or blood, as determined by usual evaluation after a standard wash cycle.

The term “comparative performance” in the context of cleaning activity refers to at least 60%, at least 70%, at least 80% at least 90% at least 95% of the cleaning activity of a comparative protease (e.g., commercially available proteases). Cleaning performance can be determined by comparing the proteases of the present invention with other proteases in various cleaning assays concerning enzyme sensitive stains such as blood, milk and/or ink (BMI) as determined by usual spectrophotometric or analytical methodologies after standard wash cycle conditions.

As used herein, a “low detergent concentration” system includes detergents where less than about 800 ppm of detergent components are present in the wash water. Japanese detergents are typically considered low detergent concentration systems, as they have usually have approximately 667 ppm of detergent components present in the wash water.

As used herein, a “medium detergent concentration” systems includes detergents wherein between about 800 ppm and about 2000 ppm of detergent components are present in the wash water. North American detergents are generally considered to be medium detergent concentration systems as they have usually approximately 975 ppm of detergent components present in the wash water. Brazilian detergents typically have approximately 1500 ppm of detergent components present in the wash water.

As used herein, “high detergent concentration” systems includes detergents wherein greater than about 2000 ppm of detergent components are present in the wash water. European detergents are generally considered to be high detergent concentration systems as they have approximately 3000-8000 ppm of detergent components in the wash water.

As used herein, “fabric cleaning compositions” include hand and machine laundry detergent compositions including laundry additive compositions and compositions suitable for use in the soaking and/or pretreatment of stained fabrics (e.g., clothes, linens, and other textile materials).

As used herein, “non-fabric cleaning compositions” include non-textile (i.e., fabric) surface cleaning compositions, including but not limited to dishwashing detergent compositions, oral cleaning compositions, denture cleaning compositions, and personal cleansing compositions.

The “compact” form of the cleaning compositions herein is best reflected by density and, in terms of composition, by the amount of inorganic filler salt. Inorganic filler salts are conventional ingredients of detergent compositions in powder form. In conventional detergent compositions, the filler salts are present in substantial amounts, typically 17-35% by weight of the total composition. In contrast, in compact compositions, the filler salt is present in amounts not exceeding 15% of the total composition. In some embodiments, the filler salt is present in amounts that do not exceed 10%, or more preferably, 5%, by weight of the composition. In some embodiments, the inorganic filler salts are selected from the alkali and alkaline-earth-metal salts of sulfates and chlorides. A preferred filler salt is sodium sulfate.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides methods for engineering proteins to optimize their performance under certain environmental conditions of interest. In some embodiments, the present invention provides methods for engineering enzymes to optimize their catalytic activity under particular environmental conditions. In some preferred embodiments, the present invention provides methods for altering the net surface charge and/or surface charge distribution of enzymes (e.g., metalloproteases or serine proteases) to obtain enzyme variants that demonstrate improved performance in detergent formulations as compared to the starting or parent enzyme.

In some preferred embodiments, the present invention provides methods and compositions comprising at least one variant neutral metalloprotease and/or variant serine protease that has improved wash performance in at least one detergent formulation. In some particularly preferred embodiments, the present invention provides variants of the Bacillus amyloliquefaciens neutral metalloprotease. In other particularly preferred embodiments, the present invention provides variants of the Cellulomonas bogoriensis isolate 69B4 serine protease. The present invention finds particular use in applications including, but not limited to cleaning, bleaching and disinfecting. Additionally, the present invention provides methods for engineering an enzyme to optimize its catalytic activity under adverse environmental conditions. In particular the present invention provides methods for altering the net surface charge and/or surface charge distribution of a metalloprotease or a serine protease to obtain enzyme variants demonstrating improved performance in detergent formulations.

Many proteins and enzymes are highly susceptible to denaturation and undergo irreversible denaturation when stored in laundry detergents. Laundry detergents are known to contain anionic, cationic and non-ionic surfactants where the surfactant is classified by their ionic (electrical charge) properties in water. These ingredients interact with the surface charge of a protein molecule resulting in protein denaturation (e.g., loss of structure and function).

Two proteases, ASP (a serine protease) and NprE (a neutral metalloprotease) have been shown to be highly unstable when stored in a detergent formulation including a surfactant such as LAS. LAS is an anionic surfactant where the overall negative charge enhances an interaction with the positively charged side chains of amino acids located on a protein surface. Such electrostatic interactions affect the intrinsic stability of a protein by weakening or disrupting stabilizing electrostatic interactions. The destabilized protein then unfolds and becomes inactive.

The distribution of charged residues on a protease surface was found to strongly affect wash performance. The protein-engineering methods of the present invention efficiently optimize proteases for enhanced performance in one or more properties in detergent formulations, by optimizing the net surface charge and/or surface charge distribution of the protease. Although a metalloprotease and a serine protease are used to exemplify the methods provided by the present invention, it is not intended that the present invention be limited to these specific enzymes. Indeed, the present invention finds use with various enzymes and other proteins.

Briefly, in some embodiments of the present invention the methods involve creation of site-evaluation libraries at a number of amino-acid residues in an enzyme of interest and assaying the variant enzymes for the properties of interest. This allows the identification of beneficial, neutral, and detrimental mutations as well as the optimal charge change (relative to the parent enzyme) for the propert(ies) of interest. In some alternative embodiments, charge scans of all the residues to generate variants with mutations that alter charge at each site (e.g., mutate neutral residues to positive and/or negative charges, and mutate charged residues to oppositely charged and/or neutral residues. In some further preferred embodiments, the methods involve creating combinatorial “charge-balanced” libraries, which include beneficial mutations that change the enzyme charge in the desired direction and beneficial or neutral mutations that change the charge in the opposite direction, and then assaying the charge-balanced library for the propert(ies) of interest. Thus, the surface charge of the enzyme and the surface charge distribution are simultaneously optimized, and it is possible to identify enzyme variants having improvements in multiple properties.

The methods of the present invention find use in improving the performance of various classes of enzymes as well as proteases (e.g., amylases, cellulases, oxidases, cutinases, mannanases, pectinases, amylases, lipases. etc). Indeed, it is not intended that the present invention be limited to any particular enzyme nor class of enzyme. In addition, the present invention finds use in the optimization of non-enzymatic protein properties which require a particular surface charge and charge distribution (e.g., expression, cell-surface binding, amenability to formulation, etc.).

I. Production of ASP Variants With Improved Properties

Site-evaluation libraries (SELs) were constructed for ASP in which every amino acid of the mature protein was replaced with most of the other amino acids (See, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/576,331 and WO 2005/052146, both of which are herein incorporated by reference as they pertain to SELs). Single mutations that improve performance were subsequently combined, and retested for performance. Subsequent analysis of SEL and mutant combination data revealed significant attenuation of stain removal performance by changes in the surface charge of the molecule.

Having determined the effect of surface charge on the stain removal performance of ASP in detergent, a defined library was designed in which the surface charge of the ASP molecule was systematically varied, and the performance of the variants was determined. For improved wash performance in liquid TIDE, the change in charge of the ASP molecule relative to the wild-type was constrained (e.g., range of +2, to −2, with optimal performance occurring at about 0 to −1). Thus, the combination of improved variants together is not additive, if this addition violates the limits on the total charge change for ASP under these conditions (e.g., less than −2 or greater than +2). Determination of the heretofore unrecognized charge change limitation permits the design of mutant libraries to produce molecules with optimal charge for improved performance.

A combinatorial “charge-balanced” library was designed, constructed, and screened (See, U.S. Appln Ser. No. 11/583,334, herein incorporated by reference as it pertains to charge-balanced libraries). The library contained four beneficial negative charge mutations and four non-detrimental positive charge mutations (to balance the negative charge mutations) in almost all possible combinations (230/256 possible variants). The library was screened for a number of properties, and enzyme variants were identified having elevated activity in one or more properties of interest.

In some embodiments, once the optimum charge is determined for a given enzyme, screening of natural isolates to identify enzyme variants with the optimum charge/charge distribution is also performed

II. Production of NprE Variants With Improved Properties

The approach taken with ASP was subsequently extended to a completely different protease backbone. SELs of NprE were produced and screened for stain removal performance in detergent (See, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/581,102, incorporated herein by reference as it pertains to SELs). Mutants were identified with significantly improved BMI cleaning performance. All improved mutants added positive charge to the NprE molecule. A charge-balance approach was used to optimize the net surface charge and surface charge distribution of NprE. In the case of NprE, the wash performance was significantly improved when the overall charge of the molecule was more positive than that of the wild-type protein. Optimal wash performance on BMI was obtained when the charge on the protein was +1 or +2, relative to the wild-type protein.

III. General Methods for Production of Beneficial Enzyme Variants

As described herein, a relationship between wash performance in a BMI microswatch assay and the overall charge on the surface of an enzyme was determined. The methods of the present invention find use in improving the performance of various enzymes and proteins (e.g., amylases, cellulases, oxidases, cutinases, mannanases, pectinases lipases, proteases, and other enzymes). Additionally, these methods find use in improving other desirable properties of proteins, including, but not limited to, expression, thermal stability, stability in surfactants and/or chelants, and pH-activity relationships. Briefly, amino acid residues located on the surface of a wild-type enzyme that are greater than about 35% exposed to solvent, preferably greater than about 50% exposed to solvent, and most preferably greater than about 65% exposed to solvent are identified, and site-evaluation libraries, where each wild-type residue is substituted with a plurality of other naturally occurring amino acids, are created. In addition, the net charge change of the variant enzymes that show improved performance in one or more properties are noted, in order to define this structure-function relationship. In additional embodiments, once the optimum charge is determined for a given enzyme, natural isolates are screened, in order to identify enzyme variants with the optimum charge and charge distribution

Experimental

The following Examples are provided in order to demonstrate and further illustrate certain preferred embodiments and aspects of the present invention and are not to be construed as limiting the scope thereof.

In the experimental disclosure which follows, the following abbreviations apply: ° C. (degrees Centigrade); rpm (revolutions per minute); H₂O (water); HCl (hydrochloric acid); aa and AA (amino acid); by (base pair); kb (kilobase pair); kD (kilodaltons); gm (grams); μg and μg (micrograms); mg (milligrams); ng (nanograms); μl and ul (microliters); ml (milliliters); mm (millimeters); nm (nanometers); μm and um (micrometer); M (molar); mM (millimolar); μM and uM (micromolar); U (units); V (volts); MW (molecular weight); sec (seconds); min(s) (minute/minutes); hr(s) (hour/hours); MgCl₂ (magnesium chloride); NaCl (sodium chloride); OD₂₈₀ (optical density at 280 nm); OD₄₀₅ (optical density at 405 nm); OD₆₀₀ (optical density at 600 nm); PAGE (polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis); EtOH (ethanol); PBS (phosphate buffered saline [150 mM NaCl, 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.2]); LAS (lauryl sodium sulfonate); SDS (sodium dodecyl sulfate); Tris (tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane); TAED (N,N,N′N′-tetraacetylethylenediamine); BES (polyesstersulfone); MES (2-morpholinoethanesulfonic acid, monohydrate; f.w. 195.24; Sigma # M-3671); CaCl₂ (calcium chloride, anhydrous; f.w. 110.99; Sigma # C-4901); DMF (N,N-dimethylformamide, f.w. 73.09, d=0.95); Abz-AGLA-Nba (2-Aminobenzoyl-L-alanylglycyl-L-leucyl-L-alamino-4-nitrobenzylamide, f.w. 583.65; Bachem # H-6675, VWR catalog #100040-598); SBG1% (“Super Broth with Glucose”; 6 g Soytone [Difco], 3 g yeast extract, 6 g NaCl, 6 g glucose); the pH was adjusted to 7.1 with NaOH prior to sterilization using methods known in the art; w/v (weight to volume); v/v (volume to volume); Npr and npr (neutral metalloprotease); SEQUEST® (SEQUEST database search program, University of Washington); Npr and npr (neutral metalloprotease gene); nprE and NprE (B. amyloliquefaciens neutral metalloprotease); PMN (purified MULTIFECT® metalloprotease); MTP (microtiter plate); MS (mass spectroscopy); SRI (Stain Removal Index); TIGR (The Institute for Genomic Research, Rockville, Md.); AATCC (American Association of Textile and Coloring Chemists); Procter & Gamble (Procter & Gamble, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio); Amersham (Amersham Life Science, Inc. Arlington Heights, Ill.); ICN (ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Costa Mesa, Calif.); Pierce (Pierce Biotechnology, Rockford, Ill.); EMPA (Eidgenossische Material Prufungs and Versuch Anstalt, St. Gallen, Switzerland); CFT (Center for Test Materials, Vlaardingen, The Netherlands); Amicon (Amicon, Inc., Beverly, Mass.); ATCC (American Type Culture Collection, Manassas, Va.); Becton Dickinson (Becton Dickinson Labware, Lincoln Park, N.J.); Perkin-Elmer (Perkin-Elmer, Wellesley, Mass.); Rainin (Rainin Instrument, LLC, Woburn, Mass.); Eppendorf (Eppendorf AG, Hamburg, Germany); Waters (Waters, Inc., Milford, Mass.); Geneart (Geneart GmbH, Regensburg, Germany); Perseptive Biosystems (Perseptive Biosystems, Ramsey, Minn.); Molecular Probes (Molecular Probes, Eugene, Oreg.); BioRad (BioRad, Richmond, Calif.); Clontech (CLONTECH Laboratories, Palo Alto, Calif.); Difco (Difco Laboratories, Detroit, Mich.); GIBCO BRL or Gibco BRL (Life Technologies, Inc., Gaithersburg, Md.); Epicentre (Epicentre Biotechnologies, Madison, Wis.); Zymo Research (Zymo Research Corp., Orange, Calif.); Integrated DNA Technologies (Integrated DNA Technologies, Inc., Coralville, Iowa): New Brunswick (New Brunswick Scientific Company, Inc., Edison, N.J.); Thermoelectron (Thermoelectron Corp., Waltham, Mass.); BMG (BMG Labtech, GmbH, Offenburg, Germany); Novex (Novex, San Diego, Calif.); Finnzymes (Finnzymes OY, Finland) Qiagen (Qiagen, Inc., Valencia, Calif.); Invitrogen (Invitrogen Corp., Carlsbad, Calif.); Sigma (Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, Mo.); DuPont Instruments (Asheville, N.Y.); Global Medical Instrumentation or GMI (Global Medical Instrumentation; Ramsey, Minn.); MJ Research (MJ Research, Waltham, Mass.); Infors (Infors AG, Bottmingen, Switzerland); Stratagene (Stratagene Cloning Systems, La Jolla, Calif.); Roche (Hoffmann La Roche, Inc., Nutley, N.J.); Ion Beam Analysis Laboratory (Ion Bean Analysis Laboratory, The University of Surrey Ion Beam Centre (Guildford, UK); TOM (Terg-o-Meter); BMI (blood, milk, ink); BaChem (BaChem AG, Bubendorf, Switzerland); Molecular Devices (Molecular Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif.); MicroCal (Microcal, Inc., Northhampton, Mass.); Chemical Computing (Chemical Computing Corp., Montreal, Canada); NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information); GE Healthcare (GE Healthcare, UK).

Example 1 Assays

The following assays were used in the examples described below. Any deviations from the protocols provided below are indicated in the examples. In these experiments, a spectrophotometer was used to measure the absorbance of the products formed after the completion of the reactions. A reflectometer was used to measure the reflectance of the swatches.

A. BCA Assay for Protein Content Determination in 96-well Microtiter Plates (MTPs)

In these assays, BCA (bicinchoninic acid; Pierce) assay was used to determine the protein concentration in protease samples on MTP scale. In this assay system, the chemical and reagent solutions used were: BCA protein assay reagent, and Pierce Dilution buffer (50 mM MES, pH 6.5, 2 mM CaCl₂, 0.005% TWEEN®-80). The equipment used was a SpectraMAX (type 340) MTP reader. The MTPs were obtained from Costar (type 9017). In the test, 200 μl BCA reagent was pipetted into each well, followed by 20 μl diluted protein. After thorough mixing, the MTPs were incubated for 30 minutes at 37° C. Air bubbles were removed, and the optical density (OD) of the solution within the wells was read at 562 nm. To determine the protein concentration, the background reading was subtracted form the sample readings. The OD₅₆₂ values were plotted for protein standards (purified protease), to produce a standard curve. The protein concentrations of the samples were extrapolated from the standard curve.

B. Microswatch Assay for Testing Protease Performance

The detergents used in this assay did not contain enzymes. The equipment used was an Eppendorf Thermomixer and a SpectraMAX (type 340; Molecular Devices) MTP reader. The MTPs were obtained from Costar (type 9017).

Detergent Preparation (TIDE® 2× Ultra, Clean Breeze liquid laundry detergent (Procter & Gamble); US wash conditions)

Milli-Q water was adjusted to 6 gpg water hardness (Ca/Mg=3/1), and 0.78 g/l TIDE® 2× Ultra Clean Breeze” detergent was added. The detergent had been previously heat-treated at 95° C. for one hour to inactivate any enzymes present in the formulation. The detergent solution was stirred for 15 minutes. Then, 5 mM HEPES (free acid) was added and the pH adjusted to 8.2.

Microswatches

Microswatches of 0.25 inch circular diameter were obtained from CFT Vlaardingen. Before cutting of the swatches, the fabric (EMPA 116) was washed with water. One microswatch was placed in each well of a 96-well microtiter plate.

Test Method

The desired detergent solution was prepared as described above. After equilibrating the Thermomixer at 25° C., 190 μl of detergent solution was added to each microswatch-containing well of the MTP. To this mixture, 10 μl of the diluted enzyme solution was added so that the final enzyme concentration was 1 μg/ml (determined from BCA assay). The MTP was sealed with tape and placed in the incubator for 30 minutes, with agitation at 1400 rpm. Following incubation under the appropriate conditions, 100 μl of the solution from each well was transferred into a fresh MTP. The new MTP containing 100 μl of solution/well was read at 405 nm using a MTP SpectraMax reader. Blank controls, as well as a control containing a microswatch and detergent but no enzyme were also included.

Rice Starch Microswatch Assay

The rice starch assay is a test of amylase performance. Detergents were prepared as described elsewhere in this document. The equipment used included a New Brunswick Innova 4230 shaker/incubator and a SpectraMAX (type 340) MTP reader. The MTPs were obtained from Corning (type 3641). Aged rice starch with orange pigment swatches (CS-28) were obtained from Center for Test Materials (Vlaardingen, Netherlands). Before cutting 0.25-inch circular microswatches, the fabric was washed with water. Two microswatches were placed in each well of a 96-well microtiter plate. The test detergent was equilibrated at 20° C. (North America) or 40° C. (Western Europe). 190 μl of detergent solution was added to each well of the MTP, containing microswatches. To this mixture, 10 μl of the diluted enzyme solution was added. The MTP was sealed with adhesive foil and placed in the incubator for 1 hour with agitation at 750 rpm at the desired test temperature (typically 20° C. or 40° C.). Following incubation, 150 μl of the solution from each well was transferred into a fresh MTP. This MTP was read at 488 nm using a SpectraMax MTP reader to quantify cleaning. Blank controls, as well as controls containing microswatches and detergent but no enzyme were also included.

Calculation of the Enzyme Performance

The obtained absorbance value was corrected for the blank value (i.e., obtained after incubation of microswatches in the absence of enzyme). The resulting absorbance provided a measure of the hydrolytic activity of the tested enzyme.

H. Detergent Heat Inactivation

Heat inactivation of commercial detergent formulas serves to destroy the enzymatic activity of any protein components while retaining the properties of non-enzymatic components. Thus this method was suitable for preparing commercially purchased detergents for use in testing the enzyme variants of the present invention. For North American (NA) and Western European (WE) heavy duty liquid laundry (HDL) detergents, heat inactivation was performed by placing pre-weighed liquid detergent (in a glass bottle) in a water bath at 95° C. for 2 hours. The incubation time for heat inactivation of North American (NA) and Japanese (JPN) heavy duty granular laundry (HDG) detergent was 8 hours and that for Western European (WE) HDG detergent was 5 hours. The incubation time for heat inactivation of NA and WE auto dish washing (ADW) detergents was 8 hours. The detergents were purchased from local supermarket stores. Both un-heated and heated detergents were assayed within 5 minutes of dissolving the detergent to accurately determine percentage deactivated. Enzyme activity was tested by the suc-AAPF-pNA assay.

For testing of enzyme activity in heat-inactivated detergents, working solutions of detergents were made from the heat inactivated stocks. Appropriate amounts of water hardness (6 gpg or 12 gpg) and buffer were added to the detergent solutions to match the desired conditions (Table 1-1). The solutions were mixed by vortexing or inverting the bottles.

TABLE 1-1 Laundry and Dish Washing Conditions Region Form Dose Detergent* Buffer Gpg pH T (° C.) Laundry (heavy duty liquid and granular) NA HDL 0.78 g/l P&G TIDE ® 2X 5 mM HEPES 6 8.0 20 WE HDL 5.0 g/L Henkel Persil 5 mM HEPES 12 8.2 40 WE HDG 8.0 g/L P&G Ariel 2 mM Na₂CO₃ 12 10.5 40 JPN HDG 0.7 g/L P&G TIDE ® 2 mM Na₂CO₃ 6 10.0 20 NA HDG 1.0 g/L P&G TIDE ® 2 mM Na₂CO₃ 6 10.0 20 Automatic Dish Washing WE ADW 3.0 g/L RB Calgonit 2 mM Na₂CO₃ 21 10.0 40 NA ADW 3.0 g/L P&G Cascade 2 mM Na₂CO₃ 9 10.0 40 *Abbreviations: Procter & Gamble (P&G); and Reckitt Benckiser (RB).

Bodipy-Starch Assay For Determination Of Amylase Activity

The Bodipy-starch assay was performed using the EnzChek® Ultra Amylase Assay Kit (E33651, Invitrogen). A 1 mg/mL stock solution of the DQ starch substrate was prepared by dissolving the contents of the vial containing the lyophilized substrate in 100 μL of 50 mM sodium acetate buffer at pH 4.0. The vial was vortexed for about 20 seconds and left at room temperature, in the dark, with occasional mixing until dissolved. 900 μL of assay buffer (50 mM sodium acetate with 2.6 mM CaCl₂ pH 5.8) was added and the vial vortexed for about 20 seconds. The substrate solution was stored at room temperature, in the dark, until ready to use or at 4° C. For the assay, a 100 μg/mL of working solution of the DQ substrate was prepared from the 1 mg/mL substrate solution in the assay buffer. 190 μL of 100 μg/mL substrate solution was added to each well in a 96-well flat-bottom microtiter plate. 10 μL of the enzyme samples were added to the wells, mix for 30 seconds using a thermomixer at 800 rpms. A blank sample that contains buffer and substrate only (no-enzyme blank) was included in the assay. The rate of change of fluorescence intensity was measured (excitation: 485 nm, emission: 520 nm) in a fluorescence microtiter plate reader at 25° C. for 5 minutes.

K. Determination of Starch Viscosity Reduction by Amylase

In this assay, viscosity reduction of corn starch substrate solution was measured in a viscometer. The corn starch substrate slurry was made up fresh in batch mode with 30% corn flour dry solids in distilled water and adjusted to pH 5.8 using sulfuric acid. For each run, 50 grams of the slurry (15 grams dry solids) was weighed out and pre-incubated for 10 minutes to warm up to 70° C. Upon amylase addition, the temperature was immediately ramped up from 70° C. to 85° C. with a rotation speed of 75 rpm. Once the temperature of the slurry and amylase mixture reached 85° C., the temperature was held constant and viscosity was monitored for an additional 30 minutes.

Example 2 NprE Protease Production in B. subtilis

In this Example, experiments conducted to produce NprE protease in B. subtilis are described. In particular, the methods used in the transformation of plasmid pUBnprE into B. subtilis are provided. Transformation was performed as known in the art (See e.g., WO 02/14490, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/581,102, incorporated herein by reference). The DNA sequence (nprE leader, nprE pro and nprE mature DNA sequence from B. amyloliquefaciens) provided below, encodes the NprE precursor protein:

(SEQ ID NO: 1) GTGGGTTTAGGTAAGAAATTGTCTGTTGCTGTCGCCGCTTCCTTTATGAGTTTAACC ATCAGTCTGCCGGGTGTTCAGGCCGCTGAGAATCCTCAGCTTAAAGAAAACCTGAC GAATTTTGTACCGAAGCATTCTTTGGTGCAATCAGAATTGCCTTCTGTCAGTGACAA AGCTATCAAGCAATACTTGAAACAAAACGGCAAAGTCTTTAAAGGCAATCCTTCTG AAAGATTGAAGCTGATTGACCAAACGACCGATGATCTCGGCTACAAGCACTTCCGT TATGTGCCTGTCGTAAACGGTGTGCCTGTGAAAGACTCTCAAGTCATTATTCACGTC GATAAATCCAACAACGTCTATGCGATTAACGGTGAATTAAACAACGATGTTTCCGC CAAAACGGCAAACAGCAAAAAATTATCTGCAAATCAGGCGCTGGATCATGCTTATA AAGCGATCGGCAAATCACCTGAAGCCGTTTCTAACGGAACCGTTGCAAACAAAAAC AAAGCCGAGCTGAAAGCAGCAGCCACAAAAGACGGCAAATACCGCCTCGCCTATG ATGTAACCATCCGCTACATCGAACCGGAACCTGCAAACTGGGAAGTAACCGTTGAT GCGGAAACAGGAAAAATCCTGAAAAAGCAAAACAAAGTGGAGCAT GCCGCCACA ACCGGAACAGGTACGACTCTTAAAGGAAAAACGGTCTCATTAAATATTTCTTCT GAAAGCGGCAAATATGTGCTGCGCGATCTTTCTAAACCTACCGGAACACAAAT TATTACGTACGATCTGCAAAACCGCGAGTATAACCTGCCGGGCACACTCGTAT CCAGCACCACAAACCAGTTTACAACTTCTTCTCAGCGCGCTGCCGTTGATGCG CATTACAACCTCGGCAAAGTGTATGATTATTTCTATCAGAAGTTTAATCGCAAC AGCTACGACAATAAAGGCGGCAAGATCGTATCCTCCGTTCATTACGGCAGCAG ATACAATAACGCAGCCTGGATCGGCGACCAAATGATTTACGGTGACGGCGACG GTTCATTCTTCTCACCTCTTTCCGGTTCAATGGACGTAACCGCTCATGAAATGA CACATGGCGTTACACAGGAAACAGCCAACCTGAACTACGAAAATCAGCCGGGC GCTTTAAACGAATCCTTCTCTGATGTATTCGGGTACTTCAACGATACTGAGGAC TGGGATATCGGTGAAGATATTACGGTCAGCCAGCCGGCTCTCCGCAGCTTATC CAATCCGACAAAATACGGACAGCCTGATAATTTCAAAAATTACAAAAACCTTCC GAACACTGATGCCGGCGACTACGGCGGCGTGCATACAAACAGCGGAATCCCG AACAAAGCCGCTTACAATACGATTACAAAAATCGGCGTGAACAAAGCGGAGCA GATTTACTATCGTGCTCTGACGGTATACCTCACTCCGTCATCAACTTTTAAAGA TGCAAAAGCCGCTTTGATTCAATCTGCGCGGGACCTTTACGGCTCTCAAGATGCTGCA AGCGTAGAAGCTGCCTGGAATGCAGTCGGATTGTAA

In the above sequence, bold indicates the DNA that encodes the mature NprE protease, standard font indicates the leader sequence (nprE leader), and underlined indicates the pro sequences (nprE pro). The amino acid sequence (NprE leader, NprE pro and NprE mature DNA sequence) provided below (SEQ ID NO:2), corresponds to the full length NprE protein. In this sequence, underlined indicates the pro sequence and bold indicates the mature NprE protease.

(SEQ ID NO: 2) MGLGKKLSVAVAASFMSLTISLPGVQAAENPQLKENLTNFVPKHSLVQSELPSVSDKAI KQYLKQNGKVFKGNPSERLKLIDQTTDDLGYKHFRYVPVVNGVPVICDSQVIIHVDKSN NVYAINGELNNDVSAKTANSKKLSANQALDHAYKAIGKSPEAVSNGTVANKNKAELK AAATKDGKYRLAYDVTIRYIEPEPANWEVTVDAETGKILKKQNKVEH AATTGTGTTL KGKTVSLNISSESGKYVLRDLSKPTGTQIITYDLQNREYNLPGTLVSSTTNQFTTSSQ RAAVDAHYNLGKVYDYFYQKFNRNSYDNKGGKIVSSVHYGSRYNNAAWIGDQMI YGDGDGSFFSPLSGSMDVTAHEMTHGVTQETANLNYENQPGALNESFSDVFGYFN DTEDWDIGEDITVSQPALRSLSNPTKYGQPDNFKNYKNLPNTDAGDYGGVHTNSGI PNKAAYNTITKIGVNKAEQIYYRALTVYLTPSSTFKDAKAALIQSARDLYGSQDAAS VEAAWNAVGL

The mature NprE sequence is set forth as SEQ ID NO:3. This sequence was used as the basis for making the variant libraries described herein.

(SEQ ID NO: 3) AATTGTGTTLKGKTVSLNISSESGKYVLRDLSKPTGTQIITYDLQNRE YNLPGTLVSSTTNQFTTSSQRAAVDAHYNLGKVYDYFYQKFNRNSY DNKGGKIVSSVHYGSRYNNAAWIGDQMIYGDGDGSFFSPLSGSMD VTAHEMTHGVTQETANLNYENQPGALNESFSDVFGYFNDTEDWDIG EDITVSQPALRSLSNPTKYGQPDNFKNYKNLPNTDAGDYGGVHTNSG IPNKAAYNTITKIGVNKAEQIYYRALTVYLTPSSTFKDAKAALIQSARD LYGSQDAASVEAAWNAVGL

The pUBnprE expression vector was constructed by amplifying the nprE gene from the CHROMOSOMAL DNA of B. amyloliquefaciens by PCR using two specific primers:

(SEQ ID NO: 4) Oligo AB1740: CTGCAGGAATTCAGATCTTAACATTTTTCCCCTA TCATTTTTCCCG (SEQ ID NO: 5) Oligo AB1741: GGATCCAAGCTTCCCGGGAAAAGACATATATGAT CATGGTGAAGCC

PCR was performed in a thermocycler with Phusion High Fidelity DNA polymerase (FINNZYMES). The PCR mixture contained 10 μl 5× buffer (Finnzymes Phusion), 1 μl 10 mM dNTP's, 1.5 μl DMSO, 1 μl of each primer, 1 μl Finnzymes Phusion DNA polymerase, 1 μl chromosomal DNA solution 50 ng/μl, 34.5 μl MilliQ water. The following protocol was used:

PCR protocol:

1) 30 sec at 98° C.;

2) 10 sec at 98° C.;

3) 20 sec at 55° C.;

4) 1 min at 72° C.;

5) 25 cycles of steps 2 to 4; and

6) 5 min at 72° C.

This resulted in a 1.9 kb DNA fragment, which was digested using BglII and BclI DNA restriction enzymes. The multicopy Bacillus vector pUB110 (See e.g., Gryczan, J Bacteriol, 134:318-329 [1978)) was digested with BamHI. The PCR fragment×BglII×BclI was then ligated in the pUB 110× BamHI vector to form pUBnprE expression vector.

pUBnprE was transformed to a B. subtilis (ΔaprE, ΔnprE, oppA, ΔspoIIE, degUHy32, ΔamyE::(xylR,pxylA-comK) strain. Transformation into B. subtilis was performed as described in WO 02/14490, incorporated herein by reference. Selective growth of B. subtilis transformants harboring the pUBnprE vector was obtained in shake flasks containing 25 ml MBD medium (a MOPS based defined medium), with 20 mg/L neomycin. MBD medium was made essentially as known in the art (See, Neidhardt et al., J Bacteriol, 119: 736-747 [1974]), except that NH₄Cl₂, FeSO₄, and CaCl₂ were left out of the base medium, 3 mM K₂HPO₄ was used, and the base medium was supplemented with 60 mM urea, 75 g/L glucose, and 1% soytone. Also, the micronutrients were made up as a 100× stock containing in one liter, 400 mg FeSO₄.7H₂O, 100 mg MnSO₄.H₂O, 100 mg ZnSO₄.7H₂O, 50 mg CuCl₂.2H₂O, 100 mg CoCl₂.6H₂O, 100 mg NaMoO₄.2H₂O, 100 mg Na₂B₄O₇.10H₂O, 10 ml of 1M CaCl₂, and 10 ml of 0.5 M sodium citrate. The culture was incubated for three days at 37° C. in an incubator/shaker (Infors). This culture resulted in the production of secreted NprE protease with proteolytic activity as demonstrated by protease assays. Gel analysis was performed using NuPage Novex 10% Bis-Tris gels (Invitrogen, Catalog No. NP0301BOX). To prepare samples for analysis, 2 volumes of supernatant were mixed with 1 volume 1M HCl, 1 volume 4×LDS sample buffer (Invitrogen, Catalog No. NP0007), and 1% PMSF (20 mg/ml) and subsequently heated for 10 minutes at 70° C. Then, 25 μL of each sample were loaded onto the gel, together with 10 μL of SeeBlue plus 2 pre-stained protein standards (Invitrogen, Catalog No. LC5925). The results clearly demonstrated that the nprE cloning strategy described in this Example is suitable for production of active NprE in B. subtilis.

Example 3 ASP Protease Production in B. subtilis

In this Example, experiments conducted to produce 69B4 protease (also referred to herein as “ASP,” “Asp,” and “ASP protease,” and “Asp protease”) in B. subtilis are described. In particular, the methods used for transformation of plasmid pHPLT-ASP-C1-2 into B. subtilis are provided. Transformation was performed as known in the art (See e.g., WO 02/14490 and U.S. Pat. Appln Ser. No. 11/583,334, incorporated herein by reference). To optimize ASP expression in B. subtilis, a synthetic DNA sequence was produced by DNA2.0, and utilized in these expression experiments. The DNA sequence (synthetic ASP DNA sequence) provided below, with codon usage adapted for Bacillus species, encodes the wild type ASP precursor protein:

(SEQ ID NO: 6) ATGACACCACGAACTGTCACAAGAGCTCTGGCTGTGGCAACAGCAGCTGCTACACT CTTGGCTGGGGGTATGGCAGCACAAGCTAACGAACCGGCTCCTCCAGGATCTGCAT CAGCCCCTCCACGATTAGCTGAAAAACTTGACCCTGACTTACTTGAAGCAATGGAA CGCGATCTGGGGTTAGATGCAGAGGAAGCAGCTGCAACGTTAGCTTTTCAGCATGA CGCAGCTGAAACGGGAGAGGCTCTTGCTGAGGAACTCGACGAAGATTTCGCGGGCA CGTGGGTTGAAGATGATGTGCTGTATGTTGCAACCACTGATGAAGATGCTGTTGAA GAAGTCGAAGGCGAAGGAGCAACTGCTGTGACTGTTGAGCATTCTCTTGCTGATTT AGAGGCGTGGAAGACGGTTTTGGATGCTGCGCTGGAGGGTCATGATGATGTGCCTA CGTGGTACGTCGACGTGCCTACGAATTCGGTAGTCGTTGCTGTAAAGGCAGGAGCG CAGGATGTAGCTGCAGGACTTGTGGAAGGCGCTGATGTGCCATCAGATGCGGTCAC TTTTGTAGAAACGGACGAAACGCCTAGAACGATG TTCGACGTAATTGGAGGCAAC GCATATACTATTGGCGGCCGGTCTAGATGTTCTATCGGATTCGCAGTAAACGG TGGCTTCATTACTGCCGGTCACTGCGGAAGAACAGGAGCCACTACTGCCAATC CGACTGGCACATTTGCAGGTAGCTCGTTTCCGGGAAATGATTATGCATTCGTC CGAACAGGGGCAGGAGTAAATTTGCTTGCCCAAGTCAATAACTACTCGGGCGG CAGAGTCCAAGTAGCAGGACATACGGCCGCACCAGTTGGATCTGCTGTATGCC GCTCAGGTAGCACTACAGGTTGGCATTGCGGAACTATCACGGCGCTGAATTCG TCTGTCACGTATCCAGAGGGAACAGTCCGAGGACTTATCCGCACGACGGTTTG TGCCGAACCAGGTGATAGCGGAGGTAGCCTTTTAGCGGGAAATCAAGCCCAAG GTGTCACGTCAGGTGGTTCTGGAAATTGTCGGACGGGGGGAACAACATTCTTT CAACCAGTCAACCCGATTTTGCAGGCTTACGGCCTGAGAATGATTACGACTGA CTCTGGAAGTTCCCCT GCTCCAGCACCTACATCATGTACAGGCTACGCAAGAACG TTCACAGGAACCCTCGCAGCAGGAAGAGCAGCAGCTCAACCGAACGGTAGCTATGT TCAGGTCAACCGGAGCGGTACACATTCCGTCTGTCTCAATGGACCTAGCGGTGCGG ACTTTGATTTGTATGTGCAGCGATGGAATGGCAGTAGCTGGGTAACCGTCGCTCAAT CGACATCGCCGGGAAGCAATGAAACCATTACGTACCGCGGAAATGCTGGATATTAT CGCTACGTGGTTAACGCTGCGTCAGGATCAGGAGCTTACACAATGGGACTCACCCT CCCCTGA

In the above sequence, bold indicates the DNA that encodes the mature ASP protease, standard font indicates the leader sequence (ASP leader), and the underline indicates the N-terminal and C-terminal prosequences. The amino acid sequence provided below (SEQ ID NO:7), corresponds to the full length ASP protein. In this sequence, underlines indicate the pro sequences and bold indicates the mature ASP protease.

(SEQ ID NO: 7) MTPRTVTRALAVATAAATLLAGGMAAQANEPAPPGSASAPPRLAEKLDPDLLEAMER DLGLDAEEAAATLAFQHDAAETGEALAEELDEDFAGTWVEDDVLYVATTDEDAVEEV EGEGATAVTVEHSLADLEAWKTVLDAALEGHDDVPTWYVDVPTNSVVVAVKAGAQD VAAGLVEGADVPSDAVTFVETDETPRTM FDVIGGNAYTIGGRSRCSIGFAVNGGFITA GHCGRTGATTANPTGTFAGSSFPGNDYAFVRTGAGVNLLAQVNNYSGGRVQVAG HTAAPVGSAVCRSGSTTGWHCGTITALNSSVTYPEGTVRGLIRTTVCAEPGDSGGS LLAGNQAQGVTSGGSGNCRTGGTTFFQPVNPILQAYGLRMITTDSGSSP APAPTSCT GYARTFTGTLAAGRAAAQPNGSYVQVNRSGTHSVCLNGPSGADFDLYVQRWNGSSW VTVAQSTSPGSNETITYRGNAGYYRYVVNAASGSGAYTMGLTLP

The mature ASP sequence is set forth as SEQ ID NO:8. This sequence was used as the basis for making the variant libraries described herein.

(SEQ ID NO: 8) FDVIGGNAYTIGGRSRCSIGFAVNGGFITAGHCGRTGATTANPTGTFA GSSFPGNDYAFVRTGAGVNLLAQVNNYSGGRVQVAGHTAAPVGSA VCRSGSTTGWHCGTITALNSSVTYPEGTVRGLIRTTVCAEPGDSGGS LLAGNQAQGVTSGGSGNCRTGGTTFFQPVNPILQAYGLRMITTDSGS SP

Asp expression cassettes were constructed in the pXX-KpnI vector and subsequently cloned into the pHPLT vector for expression of ASP in B. subtilis. pXX-KpnI is a pUC based vector with the aprE promoter (B. subtilis) driving expression, a cat gene, and a duplicate aprE promoter for amplification of the copy number in B. subtilis. The bla gene allows selective growth in E. coli. The KpnI, introduced in the ribosomal binding site, downstream of the aprE promoter region, together with the HindIII site enables cloning of Asp expression cassettes in pXX-KpnI. pHPLT-EBS2c2, a derivative of pHPLT (Solingen et al., Extremophiles 5:333-341 [2001]), contains the thermostable amylase LAT promoter (P_(LAT)) of Bacillus lichenifonnis, followed by XbaI and HpaI restriction sites for cloning ASP expression constructs. The Asp expression cassette was cloned in the pXX-KpnI vector containing DNA encoding a hybrid signal peptide (SEQ ID NO:9) constructed of 5 subtilisin AprE N-terminal signal peptide amino acids fused to the 25 Asp C-terminal signal peptide amino acids:

(SEQ ID NO: 9) MRSKKRTVTRALAVATAAATLLAGGMAAQA.

The hybrid ASP signal peptide is encoded by the following DNA sequence:

(SEQ ID NO: 10) ATGAGAAGCAAGAAGCGAACTGTCACAAGAGCTCTGGCTGTGGCAACAG CAGCTGCTACACTCTTGGCTGGGGGTATGGCAGCACAAGCT

The Asp expression cassette cloned in the pXX-KpnI vector was transformed into E. coli (Electromax DH10B, Invitrogen, Cat.No. 12033-015). The primers and cloning strategy used are provided below. Subsequently, the expression cassettes were cloned from these vectors and introduced in the pHPLT expression vector for transformation into a B. subtilis (ΔaprE, ΔnprE, oppA, ΔspoIIE, degUHy32, ΔamyE::(xylR,pxylA-comK) strain. The primers and cloning strategy for ASP expression cassettes cloning in pHPLT are also provided below.

Primers were obtained from MWG and Invitrogen. Invitrogen Platinum Taq DNA polymerase High Fidelity (Catalog No. 11304-029) was used for PCR amplification (0.2 μM primers, 25 up to 30 cycles) according to Invitrogen's protocol. Ligase reactions of Asp expression cassettes and host vectors were completed using Invitrogen T4 DNA Ligase (Cat. No. 15224-025) by utilizing the protocol recommended for general cloning of cohesive ends.

Expression of the asp gene was investigated in a B. subtilis strain (ΔaprE, ΔnprE, oppA, ΔspoIIE, degUHy32, ΔamyE::(xylR,pxylA-comK). The plasmid pHPLT-ASP-C1-2, was transformed into B. subtilis (ΔaprE, ΔnprE, oppA, ΔspoIIE, degUHy32, ΔamyE::(xylR,pxylA-comK). Transformation was performed as known in the art (See e.g., WO 02/14490, incorporated herein by reference).

Selective growth of B. subtilis (ΔaprE, ΔnprE, oppA, ΔspoIIE, degUHy32, ΔamyE::(xylR,pxylA-comK) transformants harboring the pHPLT-ASP-C1-2 vector was performed in shake flasks containing 25 ml Synthetic Maxatase Medium (SMM), with 0.97 g/1 CaCl₂.6H₂O instead of 0.5 g/l CaCl₂ (See, U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,653, herein incorporated by reference) with 20 mg/L neomycin. This growth resulted in the production of secreted ASP having proteolytic activity. Gel analysis was performed using NuPage Novex 10% Bis-Tris gels (Invitrogen, Catalog No. NP0301BOX). To prepare samples for analysis, 2 volumes of supernatant were mixed with 1 volume 1M HCl, 1 volume 4×LDS sample buffer (Invitrogen, Catalog No. NP0007), and 1% PMSF (20 mg/ml) and subsequently heated for 10 min at 70° C. Then, 25 μL of each sample was loaded onto the gel, together with 10 pt of SeeBlue plus 2 pre-stained protein standards (Invitrogen, Cat.No. LC5925). The results clearly demonstrated that the asp cloning strategy described in this example is suitable for production of active Asp in B. subtilis.

TABLE 3-1 ASP in pXX-KpnI and p2JM103-DNNDPI Vector DNA Restriction Construct Primers Template Host Vector Sites pXX-ASP-4 ASP-PreCross-I-FW ASP pXX-KpnI KpnI × TCATGCAGGGTACCATGAGAAGCA synthetic HindIII AGAAGCGAACTGTCACAAGAGCTC DNA TGGCT (SEQ ID NO: 11) sequence ASP-syntc-mature-RV GTGTGCAAGCTTTCAAGGGGAACT TCCAGAGTCAGTC (SEQ ID NO: 12)

TABLE 3-2 ASP Expression Cassettes in pHPLT Vector DNA Restriction Construct Primers Template Host Vector Sites pHPLT-ASP- ASP-Cross-1&2-FW pXX-ASP-4 PHPLT- NheI × C1-2 TGAGCTGCTAGCAAAAGGAGAGGG EBS2c2 (XbaI × SmaI TAAAGAATGAGAAGCAAGAAG HpaI) (SEQ ID NO: 13) pHPLT-ASPmat-RV CATGCATCCCGGGTTAAGGGGAAC TTCCAGAGTCAGTC (SEQ ID NO: 14)

Example 4 Generation of Site Evaluation Libraries (SELs) and Site-Saturation Mutagenesis Libraries (SSMLs)

In this Example, methods used in the construction of nprE and asp SELs are described.

A. Generation of nprE SELs

The pUBnprE vector, containing the nprE expression cassette described above, served as template DNA. This vector contains a unique BglII restriction site, which was utilized in the site evaluation library construction. Briefly, to construct a nprE site evaluation library, three PCR reactions were performed, including two mutagenesis PCRs to introduce the mutated codon of interest in the mature nprE DNA sequence and a third PCR used to fuse the two mutagenesis PCRs in order to construct the pUBnprE expression vector including the desired mutated codon in the mature nprE sequence.

The method of mutagenesis was based on the codon-specific mutation approach, in which the creation of all possible mutations at a time in a specific DNA triplet was performed using a forward and reverse oligonucleotide primer with a length of 25 to 45 nucleotides enclosing a specific designed triple DNA sequence NNS(N=A, C, T or G; and S═C or G) that corresponded with the sequence of the codon to be mutated and guaranteed random incorporation of nucleotides at that specific nprE mature codon. The number listed in the primer names corresponds with the specific nprE mature codon position. Sites evaluated included: 4, 12, 13, 14, 23, 24, 33, 45, 46, 47, 49, 50, 54, 58, 59, 60, 65, 66, 87, 90, 96, 97, 100, 186, 196, 211, 214, 228 and 280. An exemplary listing of primer sequences is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/581,102, herein incorporated by reference.

Two additional primers used to construct the site evaluation libraries contained the BglII restriction site together with a part of the pUBnprE DNA sequence flanking the BglII restriction site. These primers were produced by Invitrogen (50 nmole scale, desalted):

pUB-BglII-FW GTCAGTCAGATCTTCCTTCAGGTTATGACC (SEQ ID NO:15); and pUB-BglII-RV GTCTCGAAGATCTGATTGCTTAACTGCTTC (SEQ ID NO:16).

Construction of each SEL started with two primary PCR amplifications using the pUB-BglII-FW primer and a specific nprE reverse mutagenesis primer. For the second PCR, the pUB-BglII-RV primer and a specific nprE forward mutagenesis primer (equal nprE mature codon positions for the forward and reverse mutagenesis primers) were used.

The introduction of the mutations in the mature nprE sequence was performed using Phusion High-Fidelity DNA Polymerase (Finnzymes; Catalog No. F-530L). All PCRs were performed according to the Finnzymes protocol supplied with the polymerase. The PCR conditions for the primary PCRs were:

For primary PCR 1:

pUB-BglII-FW primer and a specific NPRE reverse mutagenesis primer—both 1 μL (10 μM);

For primary PCR 2:

pUB-BglII-RV primer and a specific NPRE forward mutagenesis primer—both 1 μL (10 μM); together with

5 x Phusion HF buffer 10 μL 10 mM dNTP mixture 1 μL Phusion DNA polymerase 0.75 μL (2 units/μL) DMSO, 100% 1 μL pUBnprE template DNA 1 μL (0.1-1 ng/μL) Distilled, autoclaved water up to 50 μL

The PCR program was: 30 seconds at 98° C., 30× (10 seconds at 98° C., 20 seconds at 55° C., 1.5 minute at 72° C.) and 5 min at 72° C., performed in a PTC-200 Peltier thermal cycle (MJ Research). The PCR experiments resulted in two fragments of approximately 2 to 3 kB, which had about 30 nucleotide base overlap around the NprE mature codon of interest. Fragments were fused in a third PCR reaction using these two aforementioned fragments and the forward and reverse BglII primers. The fusion PCR reaction was carried out in the following solution:

pUB-BglII-FW primer and pUB-BglII-RV primer—both 1 μL (10 μM) together with

5 x Phusion HF buffer 10 μL 10 mM dNTP mixture 1 μL Phusion DNA polymerase 0.75 μL (2 units/μL) DMSO, 100% 1 μL primary PCR 1 reaction mix 1 μL primary PCR 2 reaction mix 1 μL Distilled, autoclaved water up to 50 μL

The PCR fusion program was as follows: 30 seconds at 98° C., 30× (10 seconds at 98° C., 20 seconds at 55° C., 2:40 minute at 72° C.) and 5 min at 72° C., in a PTC-200 Peltier thermal cycler (MJ Research).

The amplified linear 6.5 Kb fragment was purified using the QIAQUICK® PCR purification kit (Qiagen, Catalog No. 28106) and digested with BglII restriction enzyme to create cohesive ends on both sides of the fusion fragment:

35 μL purified linear DNA fragment 4 μL REACT® 3 buffer (Invitrogen) 1 μL BglII, 10 units/ml (Invitrogen) Reaction conditions: 1 hour, 30° C.

Ligation of the BglII digested and purified using QIAQUICK® PCR purification kit (Qiagen, Catalog No. 28106) fragment resulted in circular and multimeric DNA containing the desired mutation:

30 μL of purified BglII digested DNA fragment 8 μL T4 DNA Ligase buffer (Invitrogen Catalog No. 46300-018) 1 μL T4 DNA Ligase, 1 unit/μL (Invitrogen Catalog No. 15224-017) Reaction conditions: 16-20 hours, at 16° C.

Subsequently, the ligation mixture was transformed into a B. subtilis (ΔaprE, ΔnprE, oppA, ΔspoIIE, degUHy32, ΔamyE::(xylR,pxylA-comK) strain. Transformation to B. subtilis was performed as described in WO 02/14490, incorporated herein by reference. For each library, 96 single colonies were picked and grown in MOPS media with neomycin and 1.25 g/L yeast extract for sequence analysis (BaseClear) and screening purposes. Each library included a maximum of 19 nprE site-specific variants.

The variants were produced by growing the B. subtilis SEL transformants in 96 well MTP at 37° C. for 68 hours in MBD medium with 20 mg/L neomycin and 1.25 g/L yeast extract.

B. Generation of Asp SSMLs

In this Example, experiments conducted to develop site-saturation mutagenesis libraries (SSML) of Asp are described. Site saturated Asp libraries each contained 96 B. subtilis (ΔaprE, ΔnprE, oppA, ΔspoIIE, degUHy32, ΔamyE::(xylR,pxylA-comK) clones harboring the pHPLT-ASP-c 1-2 expression vector. This vector, containing the Asp expression cassette composed of the synthetic DNA sequence encoding the Asp hybrid signal peptide and the Asp N-terminal pro and mature protein were found to enable expression of the protein indicated below (the signal peptide and precursor protease) and secretion of the mature Asp protease.

(SEQ ID NO: 17) MTPRTVTRALAVATAAATLLAGGMAAQANEPAPPGSASAPPRLAEKLDP DLLEAMERDLGLDAEEAAATLAFQHDAAETGEALAEELDEDFAGTWVED DVLYVATTDEDAVEEVEGEGATAVTVEHSLADLEAWKTVLDAALEGHDDV PTWYVDVPTNSVVVAVKAGAQDVAAGLVEGADVPSDAVTFVETDETPRT MFDVIGGNAYTIGGRSRCSIGFAVNGGFITAGHCGRTGATTANPTGTFAG SSFPGNDYAFVRTGAGVNLLAQVNNYSGGRVQVAGHTAAPVGSAVCRS GSTTGWHCGTITALNSSVTYPEGTVRGLIRTTVCAEPGDSGGSLLAGNQA QGVTSGGSGNCRTGGTTFFQPVNPILQAYGLRMITTDSGSSP

Construction of 189 Asp site saturated mutagenesis libraries (SSMLs) was completed using the pHPLT-ASP-C1-2 expression vector as a template. The mutagenesis primers used in these experiments all contained the triple DNA sequence code NNS(N=A, C, T or G; and S═C or G) at the position that corresponds with the codon of the Asp mature sequence to be mutated and guaranteed random incorporation of nucleotides at that position. Construction of each SSM library started with two PCR amplifications using pHPLT-BglII-FW primer and a specific reverse mutagenesis primer, and pHPLT-BglII-RV primer and a specific forward mutagenesis primer (equal positions for the mutagenesis primers). An exemplary listing of specific forward and reverse primer sequences is described in WO 2005/052146, herein incorporated by reference as it pertains to primer sequences. The sequence of the pHPLT-BglII-FW primer is set forth in SEQ ID NO:18 (GCAATCAGATCTTCCTTCAGGTTATGACC); and the sequence of the pHPLT-BglII-RV primer is set forth in SEQ ID NO:19 (GCATCGAAGATCTGATTGCTTAACTGCTTC).

Platinum Taq DNA polymerase High Fidelity (Invitrogen. Catalog No. 11304-029) was used for PCR amplification (0.2 μM primers, 20 up to 30 cycles) according to protocol provided by the manufacturer. Briefly, 1 μL amplified DNA fragment of both specific PCR mixes, both targeting the same codon, was added to 48 μL of fresh PCR reaction solution together with primers pHPLT-BglII-FW and pHPLT-BglII-RV. This fusion PCR amplification (22 cycles) resulted in a linear pHPLT-ASP-c 1-2 DNA fragment with a specific Asp mature codon randomly mutated and a unique Bel restriction site on both ends. Purification of this DNA fragment (Qiagen PCR purification kit, Catalog No. 28106), digesting it with BglII, performing an additional purification step and a ligation reaction (Invitrogen T4 DNA Ligase (Catalog No. 15224-025) generated circular and multimeric DNA that was subsequently transformed into B. subtilis (ΔaprE, ΔnprE, oppA, ΔspoIIE, degUHy32, ΔamyE::(xylR,pxylA-comK). For each library, after overnight incubation at 37° C., 96 single colonies were picked from Heart Infusion agar plates with 20 mg/L neomycin and grown for 4 days at 37° C. in MOPS media with 20 mg/ml neomycin and 1.25 g/L yeast extract (See, WO 03/062380, incorporated herein by reference, for the exact medium formulation used herein). Sequence analysis (BaseClear) and protease expression was determined for each colony for screening purposes. The library numbers ranged from 1 up to 189, with each number representing the codon of the mature Asp sequence that was randomly mutated. After selection, each library included a maximum of 19 Asp protease variants.

Example 5 Generation Of Variant Proteases Via Site Directed Mutagenesis

In this Example, methods to generate nprE SEL using the QUIKCHANGE® Multi Site-Directed Mutagenesis Kit (Stratagene) are described. However, the methods provided herein are suitable for production of SELs of other enzymes of interest (e.g., Asp). As in Example 4, above, the pUBnprE vector containing the nprE expression cassette, served as the template DNA source for the generation of nprE SELs and NprE variants. The major difference between the two methods is that this method requires amplification of the entire vector using complementary site-directed mutagenic primers.

Materials:

Bacillus strain containing the pUBnprE vector

Qiagen Plasmid Midi Kit (Qiagen Catalog No. 12143)

Ready-Lyse Lysozyme (Epicentre Catalog No. R1802M) dam Methylase Kit (New England Biolabs Catalog No. MO222L) Zymoclean Gel DNA Recovery Kit (Zymo Research Catalog No. D4001) nprE site-directed mutagenic primers, 100 nmole scale, 5′ phosphorylated, PAGE purified (Integrated DNA Technologies)

QUIKCHANGE® Multi Site-Directed Mutagenesis Kit (Stratagene Catalog No. 200514) MJ Research PTC-200 Peltier Thermal Cycler (Bio-Rad Laboratories)

1.2% agarose E-gels (Invitrogen Catalog No. G5018-01)

TempliPhi Amplification Kit (GE Healthcare Catalog No. 25-6400-10)

Competent B. subtilis cells (ΔaprE, ΔnprE, oppA, ΔspoIIE, degUHy32, ΔamyE::(xylR,pxylA-comK)

Methods:

To obtain the pUBnprE plasmids containing one mutation (identified through nprE SEL screening as described above in Example 4 and in U.S. Pat. Appln Ser. No. 11/581,102, herein incorporated by reference), a single colony of each Bacillus strain of interest was used to inoculate a 5 ml LB +10 ppm neomycin tube (e.g., starter culture). The culture was grown at 37° C., with shaking at 225 rpm for 6 hours. Then, 100 ml of fresh LB +10 ppm neomycin were inoculated with 1 ml of the starter culture. This culture was grown overnight at 37° C., with shaking at 225 rpm. Following this incubation, the cell pellet was harvested by sufficient centrifugation to provide a cell pellet. The cell pellet was resuspended in 10 ml Buffer P1 (Qiagen Plasmid Midi Kit). Then, 10 μl of Ready-Lyse Lysozyme was added to the resuspended cell pellet and incubated at 37° C. for 30 min. The Qiagen Plasmid Midi Kit protocol was continued using 10 ml of Buffer P2 and P3 to account for the increased volume of cell culture. After isolation from Bacillus of each pUBnprE plasmid containing a single nprE mutation, the concentration of each plasmid was determined. The plasmids were then dam methylated using the dam Methylase Kit (New England Biolabs) per the manufacturer's instructions, to methylate approximately 2 μg of each pUBnprE plasmid per tube. The Zymoclean Gel DNA recovery kit was used to purify and concentrate the dam-methylated pUBnprE plasmids. The dam-methylated pUBnprE plasmids were then quantitated and diluted to a working concentration of 50 ng/μl for each. Mixed site-directed mutagenic primers were prepared separately for each reaction. For example, using pUBnprE T14R plasmid as the template source, the mixed site-directed mutagenic primer tube would contain 10 μl of nprE-S23R, 10 μl nprE-G24R, 10 μl nprE-N46K, and 10 μl nprE-T54R (all primers at 10 μM each). A PCR reaction using the QuikChange Multi Site-Directed Mutagenesis Kit (Stratagene) was performed following the manufacturer's instructions (e.g., 1 μl dam methylated pUBnprE plasmid containing one mutation (50 ng/μl), 2 μl nprE site-directed mutagenic primers (10 μM), 2.5 μl 10× QuikChange Multi Reaction buffer, 1 μl dNTP Mix, 1 μl QuikChange Multi enzyme blend (2.5 U/μl), and 17.5 μl distilled, autoclaved water, to provide a 25 μl total reaction mix. The nprE variant libraries were amplified using the following conditions: 95° C., for 1 min. (1^(st) cycle only), followed by 95° C. for 1 min, 55° C. for 1 min, 65° C. for 13.5 min, and repeat cycling 29 times. The reaction product was stored at 4° C. overnight. Then, the reaction mixture underwent DpnI digestion treatment (supplied with QUIKCHANGE® Multi Site-Directed Mutagenesis Kit) to digest parental pUB-nprE plasmid, using the manufacturer's protocol (i.e., 1.5 μl DpnI restriction enzyme was added to each tube and incubated at 37° C. for 3 hours; 2 μl of DpnI-digested PCR reaction was then analyzed on a 1.2% E-gel to ensure PCR reaction worked and that parental template was degraded. TempliPhi rolling circle amplification was then used to generate large amounts of DNA for increasing library size of the nprE multi variants, using the manufacturer's protocol (i.e., 1 μl DpnI treated QuikChange Multi Site-Directed Mutagenesis PCR, 5 μl TempliPhi Sample Buffer, 5 μl TempliPhi Reaction Buffer, and 0.2 μl TempliPhi Enzyme Mix, for an ˜11 μl total reaction; incubated at 30° C. for 3 hours; the TempliPhi reaction was diluted by adding 200 μl distilled, autoclaved water and briefly vortexed. Then, 1.5 μl of diluted TempliPhi material was transformed into competent B. subtilis cells, and nprE multi variants were selected for using LA +10 ppm Neomycin +1.6% skim milk plates. Colonies were picked and then sequenced to identify the different nprE variant library combinations.

Table 5-1 provides the primer name, and sequence used in these experiments. Integrated DNA Technologies synthesized all of the primers (100 nmole scale, 5′-phosphorylated, and PAGE purified). Additional mutagenesis primers are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/581,102, herein incorporated by reference).

TABLE 5-0 nprE Primers PRIMER SEQUENCE nprE-T14R GGT ACG ACT CTT AAA GGA AAA AGA GTC TCA TTA AAT ATT TCT TCT GAA AG (SEQ ID NO: 20) nprE-S23R GTC TCA TTA AAT ATT TCT TCT GAA AGA GGC AAA TAT GTG CTG CGC GAT C (SEQ ID NO: 21) nprE-G24R CTC ATT AAA TAT TTC TTC TGA AAG CAG AGG CAA ATA TGT GCT GCG CGA TC (SEQ ID NO: 22) nprE-N46K CAC AAA TTA TTA CGT ACG ATC TGC AAA AAC GCG AGT ATA ACC TGC (SEQ ID NO: 23) nprE-T54R GTA TAA CCT GCC GGG CAG ACT CGT ATC CAG CAC CAC AAA CCA G (SEQ ID NO: 24)

This Example also describes the production of enzyme charge ladders and combinatorial charge libraries for both proteases and amylases.

Enzyme Charge Ladders

Multiple protein variants spanning a range of physical properties of interest are selected from existing libraries or are generated by site-directed mutagenesis techniques as known in the art (See e.g., US Pat. Appln. Ser. Nos., 10/576,331, 11/581,102, and 11/583,334). This defined set of probe proteins is then assayed in a test of interest.

Exemplary protease charge ladder variants are shown in the following tables and assayed as described herein. In these tables, the charge change is relative to the wild-type enzyme.

TABLE 5-1 ASP Charge Ladder Variants ASP Variant Δ Charge R14I-N112E-T116E-R123F-R159F −5 R14I-N112E-T116E-R123F −4 R14I-N112E-T116E −3 R14I-N112E −2 R14I −1 R14I-D184T 0 R14I-T86K-D184T +1 R14I-A64K-T86K-D184T +2 R14I-A64K-Q81K-T86K-D184T +3

TABLE 5-2 NprE Charge Ladder Variants NprE Variant Δ Charge S56D-T60D −2 T60D −1 wild type 0 S23R +1 S23R-N46K +2 S23R-N46K-T54R +3 T14R-S23R-N46K-T54R +4

TABLE 5-3 FNA Charge Ladder Variants FNA Variant (BPN′ numbering) Δ Charge S87D-N109D-S188D-S248D −4 S87D-N109D-S188D −3 S87D-N109D −2 N109D −1 (FNA) 0 N109R +1 S87R-N109R +2 S87R-N109R-S188R +3 S87R-N109R-S188R-S248R +4

The amino acid sequence of the mature FNA protease was used as the basis for making the variant libraries described herein:

(SEQ ID NO: 25) AQSVPYGVSQIKAPALHSQGYTGSNVKVAVIDSGIDSSHPDLKVAGGA SMVPSETNPFQDNNSHGTHVAGTVAALNNSIGVLGVAPSASLYAVKVL GADGSGQYSWIINGIEWAIANNMDVINMSLGGPSGSAALKAAVDKAVAS GVVVVAAAGNEGTSGSSSTVGYPGKYPSVIAVGAVDSSNQRASFSSVG PELDVMAPGVSIQSTLPGNKYGALNGTSMASPHVAGAAALILSKHPNWT NTQVRSSLENTTTKLGDSFYYGKGLINVQAAAQ.

TABLE 5-4 GG36 Charge Ladder Variants GG36 Variant GG36 Variant (GG36 numbering) (BPN′ numbering) Δ Charge S85D-Q107D-S182D-N242D S87D-Q109D-S188D-N248D −4 S85D-Q107D-S182D S87D-Q109D-S188D −3 S85D-Q107D S87D-Q109D −2 Q107D Q109D −1 (GG36) (GG36) 0 Q107R Q109R +1 S85R-Q107R S87R-Q109R +2 S85R-Q107R-S182R S87R-Q109R-S188R +3 S85R-Q107R-S182R-N242R S87R-Q109R-S188R-N248R +4

The amino acid sequence of the mature GG36 protease was used as the basis for making the variant libraries described herein:

(SEQ ID NO: 26) AQSVPWGISRVQAPAAHNRGLTGSGVKVAVLDTGISTHPDLNIRGGASF VPGEPSTQDGNGHGTHVAGTIAALNNSIGVLGVAPSAELYAVKVLGASG SGSVSSIAQGLEWAGNNGMHVANLSLGSPSPSATLEQAVNSATSRGVL VVAASGNSGAGSISYPARYANAMAVGATDQNNNRASFSQYGAGLDIVAP GVNVQSTYPGSTYASLNGTSMATPHVAGAAALVKQKNPSWSNVQIRNHL KNTATSLGSTNLYGSGLVNAEAATR.

Exemplary amylase charge ladder variants are shown in the following tables and assayed as described herein. In these tables, the charge change is relative to the wild-type enzyme.

The sequence of the AmyS gene was provided to Gene Oracle (Mountain View, Calif.) for the synthesis of the 25 charge ladder variants shown in Table 5-5. Gene Oracle synthesized and cloned the AmyS variants into vector pGov4 and transformed them into E. colit. DNA isolated from minipreps, as well as an agar stab were supplied for each variant.

The variants were PCR amplified and cloned into the pHPLT B. subtilis expression vector.

TABLE 5-5a First AmyS Charge Ladder Number AmyS Variant Δ Charge 1-6 R308Q R483Q K171Q K383Q K447Q K471Q N28D N224D N271D −12 N281D Q86E Q89E 1-5 R308Q R483Q K171Q K383Q K447Q N28D N224D N271D N281D −10 Q86E 1-4 R308Q R483Q K171Q K383Q N28D N224D N271D N281D −8 1-3 R308Q R483Q K171Q N28D N224D N271D −6 1-2 R308Q R483Q N28D N224D −4 1-1 R308Q N28D −2 AmyS Parent 0 2-1 D318N N28R +2 2-2 D318N D306N N28R N224R +4 2-3 D318N D306N D19N N28R N224R N271R +6 2-4 D318N D306N D19N D393N N28R N224R N271R N281R +8 2-5 D318N D306N D19N D393N D458N N28R N224R N271R N281R +10 Q86R 2-6 D318N D306N D19N D393N D458N E29Q N28R N224R N271R +12 N281R Q86R Q89R

TABLE 5-5b Second AmyS Charge Ladder Number AmyS Variant Δ Charge 3-7 Q97R Q319R Q358E Q443E N28D N224D N271D N281D Q86E −12 Q89E R308Q R483Q K171Q K383Q K447Q K471Q 3-6 Q97R Q319R Q358E Q443E N28D N224D N271D N281D Q86E −10 R308Q R483Q K171Q K383Q K447Q 3-5 Q97R Q319R Q358E Q443E N28D N224D N271D N281D R308Q −8 R483Q K171Q K383Q 3-4 Q97R Q319R Q358E Q443E N28D N224D N271D R308Q R483Q −6 K171Q 3-3 Q97R Q319R Q358E Q443E N28D N224D R308Q R483Q −4 3-2 Q97R Q319R Q358E Q443E N28D −2 3-1 Q97R Q319R Q358E Q443E 0 4-1 Q97R Q319R Q358E Q443E N28K D318N +2 4-2 Q97R Q319R Q358E Q443E N28K N224K D318N D306N +4 4-3 Q97R Q319R Q358E Q443E N28K N224K N271K D318N D306N +6 D19N 4-4 Q97R Q319R Q358E Q443E N28K N224K N271K N281K D318N +8 D306N D19N D393N 4-5 Q97R Q319R Q358E Q443E N28K N224K N271K N281K Q86R +10 D318N D306N D19N D393N D458N 4-6 Q97R Q319R Q358E Q443E N28K N224K N271K N281K Q86R +12 Q89R D318N D306N D19N D393N D458N E29Q 5-1 Q97R Q319R Q358E Q443E N28D R308Q S242E −3 5-2 Q97R Q319R Q358E Q443E N28D N224D R308Q S242E −4 5-3 Q97R Q319R Q358E Q443E N28D N224D R308Q S242Q −3

The amino acid sequence of the mature AmyS amylase was used as the basis for making the variant libraries described herein:

(SEQ ID NO: 27) AAPFNGTMMQYFEWYLPDDGTLWTKVANEANNLSSLGITALWLPPAYK GTSRSDVGYGVYDLYDLGEFNQKGTVRTKYGTKAQYLQAIQAAHAAGM QVYADVVFDHKGGADGTEWVDAVEVNPSDRNQEISGTYQIQAWTKFD FPGRGNTYSSFKWRWYHFDGVDWDESRKLSRIYKFRGIGKAWDWEVD TENGNYDYLMYADLDMDHPEVVTELKNWGKWYVNTTNIDGFRLDAVKHI KFSFFPDWLSYVRSQTGKPLFTVGEYWSYDINKLHNYITKTNGTMSLF DAPLHNKFYTASKSGGAFDMRTLMTNTLMKDQPTLAVTFVDNHDTEP GQALQSWVDPWFKPLAYAFILTRQEGYPCVFYGDYYGIPQYNIPSLKSK IDPLLIARRDYAYGTQHDYLDHSDIIGWTREGVTEKPGSGLAALITDGP GGSKWMYVGKQHAGKVFYDLTGNRSDTVTINSDGWGEFKVNGGSVSVW VPRKTTVSTIARPITTRPWTGEFVRWTEPRLVAWP.

TABLE 5-6 AmyS-S242Q Charge Ladder AmyS-S242Q Variant Δ Charge Q97E-Q319E-Q358E-Q443E −4 Q97E-Q319E-Q358E −3 Q97E-Q319E −2 Q97E −1 Q97R-Q319E 0 Parent AmyS-S242Q 0 Q97R +1 Q97R-Q319R +2 Q97R-Q319R-Q358R +3 Q97R-Q319R-Q358R-Q443R +4

The amino acid sequence of the mature truncated S242Q amylase with the substituted amino acid shown in italics was used as the basis for making the variant libraries described herein:

(SEQ ID NO: 28) AAPFNGTMMQYFEWYLPDDGTLWTKVANEANNLSSLGITALWLPPAYK GTSRSDVGYGVYDLYDLGEFNQKGTVRTKYGTKAQYLQAIQAAHAAGM QVYADVVFDHKGGADGTEWVDAVEVNPSDRNQEISGTYQIQAWTKFD FPGRGNTYSSFKWRWYHFDGVDWDESRKLSRIYKFRGIGKAWDWEVD TENGNYDYLMYADLDMDHPEVVTELKNWGKWYVNTTNIDGFRLDAVKH IKFQFFPDWLSYVRSQTGKPLFTVGEYWSYDINKLHNYITKTNGTMSL FDAPLHNKFYTASKSGGAFDMRTLMTNTLMKDQPTLAVTFVDNHDTE PGQALQSWVDPWFKPLAYAFILTRQEGYPCVFYGDYYGIPQYNIPSLKS KIDPLLIARRDYAYGTQHDYLDHSDIIGWTREGVTEKPGSGLAALITD GPGGSKWMYVGKQHAGKVFYDLTGNRSDTVTINSDGWGEFKVNGGSVS VWVPRKTT.

Enzyme Combinatorial Charge Libraries

Generation of B. lentus subtilisin (=GG36) Combinatorial Charge Libraries

The pAC-GG36ci plasmid containing the codon-improved GG36 gene was sent to DNA 2.0 Inc. (Menlo Park, Calif.) for the generation of combinatorial charge libraries (CCL). They were also provided with the Bacillus subtilis strain (genotype: ΔaprE, ΔnprE, ΔspoIIE, amyE::xylRPxylAcomK-phleo) for transformations. In addition a request was made to DNA2.0 Inc. for the generation of positional libraries at each of the four sites in GG36 protease that are shown in Table 5-7. Variants were supplied as glycerol stocks in 96-well plates.

The GG36 CCL was designed by identifying four well-distributed, surface-exposed, uncharged polar amino-acid residues outside the active site. These residues are Ser-85, Gln-107, Ser-182, and Asn-242 (residues 87, 109, 188, and 248 in BPN' numbering). An 81-member combinatorial library (G-1 to G-81) was created by making all combinations of three possibilities at each site: wild-type, arginine, or aspartic acid.

TABLE 5-7 GG36 CCL Variants Variant # S 85 Q 107 S 182 N 242 Δ Charge G-01 — — — — 0 G-02 — — — D −1 G-03 — — — R +1 G-04 — — D — −1 G-05 — — D D −2 G-06 — — D R 0 G-07 — — R — +1 G-08 — — R D 0 G-09 — — R R +2 G-10 — D — — −1 G-11 — D — D −2 G-12 — D — R 0 G-13 — D D — −2 G-14 — D D D −3 G-15 — D D R −1 G-16 — D R — 0 G-17 — D R D −1 G-18 — D R R +1 G-19 — R — — +1 G-20 — R — D 0 G-21 — R — R +2 G-22 — R D — 0 G-23 — R D D −1 G-24 — R D R +1 G-25 — R R — +2 G-26 — R R D +1 G-27 — R R R +3 G-28 D — — — −1 G-29 D — — D −2 G-30 D — — R 0 G-31 D — D — −2 G-32 D — D D −3 G-33 D — D R −1 G-34 D — R — 0 G-35 D — R D −1 G-36 D — R R +1 G-37 D D — — −2 G-38 D D — D −3 G-39 D D — R −1 G-40 D D D — −3 G-41 D D D D −4 G-42 D D D R −2 G-43 D D R — −1 G-44 D D R D −2 G-45 D D R R 0 G-46 D R — — 0 G-47 D R — D −1 G-48 D R — R +1 G-49 D R D — −1 G-50 D R D D −2 G-51 D R D R 0 G-52 D R R — +1 G-53 D R R D 0 G-54 D R R R +2 G-55 R — — — +1 G-56 R — — D 0 G-57 R — — R +2 G-58 R — D — 0 G-59 R — D D −1 G-60 R — D R +1 G-61 R — R — +2 G-62 R — R D +1 G-63 R — R R +3 G-64 R D — — 0 G-65 R D — D −1 G-66 R D — R +1 G-67 R D D — −1 G-68 R D D D −2 G-69 R D D R 0 G-70 R D R — +1 G-71 R D R D 0 G-72 R D R R +2 G-73 R R — — +2 G-74 R R — D +1 G-75 R R — R +3 G-76 R R D — +1 G-77 R R D D 0 G-78 R R D R +2 G-79 R R R — +3 G-80 R R R D +2 G-81 R R R R +4 Generation of B. amyloliquefaciens subtilisin BPN'-Y217L(=FNA) CCL

The pAC-FNAre plasmid containing the FNA gene was sent to DNA 2.0 Inc. (Menlo Park, Calif.) for the generation of CCL. They were also provided with the Bacillus subtilis strain (genotype: ΔaprE, ΔnprE, ΔspoIIE, amyE::xylRPxylAcomK-phleo) for transformations. A request was made to DNA 2.0 Inc. for the generation of positional libraries at each of the four FNA protease sites that are shown in Table 5-8. Variants were supplied as glycerol stocks in 96-well plates.

The subtilisin BPN′-Y217L combinatorial charge library was designed by identifying four well-distributed, surface-exposed, uncharged polar amino-acid residues outside the active site. These residues are Ser-87, Asn-109, Ser-188, and Ser-248. An 81-member combinatorial library (F-1 to F-81) was created by making all combinations of three possibilities at each site: wild-type, arginine, or aspartic acid.

TABLE 5-8 FNA CCL Variants Variant # S 87 N 109 S 188 S 248 Δ Charge F-01 — — — — 0 F-02 — — — D −1 F-03 — — — R +1 F-04 — — D — −1 F-05 — — D D −2 F-06 — — D R 0 F-07 — — R — +1 F-08 — — R D 0 F-09 — — R R +2 F-10 — D — — −1 F-11 — D — D −2 F-12 — D — R 0 F-13 — D D — −2 F-14 — D D D −3 F-15 — D D R −1 F-16 — D R — 0 F-17 — D R D −1 F-18 — D R R +1 F-19 — R — — +1 F-20 — R — D 0 F-21 — R — R +2 F-22 — R D — 0 F-23 — R D D −1 F-24 — R D R +1 F-25 — R R — +2 F-26 — R R D +1 F-27 — R R R +3 F-28 D — — — −1 F-29 D — — D −2 F-30 D — — R 0 F-31 D — D — −2 F-32 D — D D −3 F-33 D — D R −1 F-34 D — R — 0 F-35 D — R D −1 F-36 D — R R +1 F-37 D D — — −2 F-38 D D — D −3 F-39 D D — R −1 F-40 D D D — −3 F-41 D D D D −4 F-42 D D D R −2 F-43 D D R — −1 F-44 D D R D −2 F-45 D D R R 0 F-46 D R — — 0 F-47 D R — D −1 F-48 D R — R +1 F-49 D R D — −1 F-50 D R D D −2 F-51 D R D R 0 F-52 D R R — +1 F-53 D R R D 0 F-54 D R R R +2 F-55 R — — — +1 F-56 R — — D 0 F-57 R — — R +2 F-58 R — D — 0 F-59 R — D D −1 F-60 R — D R +1 F-61 R — R — +2 F-62 R — R D +1 F-63 R — R R +3 F-64 R D — — 0 F-65 R D — D −1 F-66 R D — R +1 F-67 R D D — −1 F-68 R D D D −2 F-69 R D D R 0 F-70 R D R — +1 F-71 R D R D 0 F-72 R D R R +2 F-73 R R — — +2 F-74 R R — D +1 F-75 R R — R +3 F-76 R R D — +1 F-77 R R D D 0 F-78 R R D R +2 F-79 R R R — +3 F-80 R R R D +2 F-81 R R R R +4 Generation of B. stearothermophilus AmyS-S242Q CCL

The AmyS-S242Q plasmid DNA was isolated from a transformed B. subtilis strain (gentotype: ΔaprE, ΔnprE, amyE::xylRPxylAcomK-phleo) and sent to DNA2.0 Inc. as the template for CCL construction. A request was made to DNA2.0 Inc. (Mountain View, Calif.) for the generation of positional libraries at each of the four sites in AmyS-S242Q (S242Q) amylase that are shown in Table 5-9. Variants were supplied as glycerol stocks in 96-well plates.

The AmyS S242Q combinatorial charge library was designed by identifying the following four residues: Gln-97, Gln 319, Gln 358, and Gln 443. A four site, 81-member CCL was created by making all combinations of three possibilities at each site: wild-type, arginine, or aspartic acid.

TABLE 5-9 S242Q CCL Variants Variant # Q97 Q319 Q358 Q443 Δ Charge  1 Q97E Q319E Q358E Q443E −4  2 Q97E Q319E Q358E Q443R −2  3 Q97E Q319E Q358E — −3  4 Q97E Q319E Q358R Q443E −2  5 Q97E Q319E Q358R Q443R 0  6 Q97E Q319E Q358R — −1  7 Q97E Q319E — Q443E −3  8 Q97E Q319E — Q443R −1  9 Q97E Q319E — — −2 10 Q97E Q319R Q358E Q443E −2 11 Q97E Q319R Q358E Q443R 0 12 Q97E Q319R Q358E — −1 13 Q97E Q319R Q358R Q443E 0 14 Q97E Q319R Q358R Q443R +2 15 Q97E Q319R Q358R — +1 16 Q97E Q319R — Q443E −1 17 Q97E Q319R — Q443R +1 18 Q97E Q319R — — 0 19 Q97E — Q358E Q443E −3 20 Q97E — Q358E Q443R −1 21 Q97E — Q358E — −2 22 Q97E — Q358R Q443E −1 23 Q97E — Q358R Q443R +1 24 Q97E — Q358R — 0 25 Q97E — — Q443E −2 26 Q97E — — Q443R 0 27 Q97E — — — −1 28 Q97R Q319E Q358E Q443E −2 29 Q97R Q319E Q358E Q443R 0 30 Q97R Q319E Q358E — −1 31 Q97R Q319E Q358R Q443E 0 32 Q97R Q319E Q358R Q443R +2 33 Q97R Q319E Q358R — +1 34 Q97R Q319E — Q443E −1 35 Q97R Q319E — Q443R +1 36 Q97R Q319E — — 0 37 Q97R Q319R Q358E Q443E 0 38 Q97R Q319R Q358E Q443R +2 39 Q97R Q319R Q358E — +1 40 Q97R Q319R Q358R Q443E +2 41 Q97R Q319R Q358R Q443R +4 42 Q97R Q319R Q358R — +3 43 Q97R Q319R — Q443E +1 44 Q97R Q319R — Q443R +3 45 Q97R Q319R — — +2 46 Q97R — Q358E Q443E −1 47 Q97R — Q358E Q443R +1 48 Q97R — Q358E — 0 49 Q97R — Q358R Q443E +1 50 Q97R — Q358R Q443R +3 51 Q97R — Q358R — +2 52 Q97R — — Q443E 0 53 Q97R — — Q443R +2 54 Q97R — — — +1 55 — Q319E Q358E Q443E −3 56 — Q319E Q358E Q443R −1 57 — Q319E Q358E — −2 58 — Q319E Q358R Q443E −1 59 — Q319E Q358R Q443R +1 60 — Q319E Q358R — 0 61 — Q319E — Q443E −2 62 — Q319E — Q443R 0 63 — Q319E — — −1 64 — Q319R Q358E Q443E −1 65 — Q319R Q358E Q443R +1 66 — Q319R Q358E — 0 67 — Q319R Q358R Q443E +1 68 — Q319R Q358R Q443R +3 69 — Q319R Q358R — +2 70 — Q319R — Q443E 0 71 — Q319R — Q443R +2 72 — Q319R — — +1 73 — — Q358E Q443E −2 74 — — Q358E Q443R 0 75 — — Q358E — −1 76 — — Q358R Q443E 0 77 — — Q358R Q443R +2 78 — — Q358R — +1 79 — — — Q443E −1 80 — — — Q443R +1 81 (parent) Q97 Q319 Q358 Q443 0

Example 6 Purification and Characterization of Variant Proteases

This Example describes the methods used to purify the proteases expressed by the transformed B. subtilis of the preceding Examples.

After 36 hours of incubation at 37° C., the fermentation broth was recovered and centrifuged at 12,000 rpm (SORVALL® centrifuge model RC5B). The secreted neutral metalloproteases were isolated from the culture fluid and concentrated approximately 10-fold using an Amicon filter system 8400 with a BES (polyethersulfone) 10 kDa cutoff.

The concentrated supernatant was dialyzed overnight at 4° C. against 25 mM MES buffer, pH 5.4, containing 10 mM NaCl. The dialyzate was then loaded onto a cation-exchange column Poros HS20 (total volume ˜83 mL; binding capacity ˜4.5 g protein/mL column; waters) as described below. The column was pre-equilibrated with 25 mM MES buffer, pH 5.4, containing 10 mM NaCl. Then, approximately 200-300 mL of sample was loaded onto the column. The bound protein was eluted using a pH gradient from 5.4 to 6.2 over 10-column volumes of MES buffer. Elution of the protein was between pH 5.8 and 6.0, and was assessed using proteolytic activity as described herein and 10% (w/v) NUPAGE® SDS-PAGE (Novex). The neutral protease containing fractions were then pooled. Calcium and zinc chloride salts in the ratio of 3:1 were added prior to the adjustment of the pH to 5.8. The Perceptive Biosystems BIOCAD®Vision (GMI) was used for protein purification.

The purified protein, assessed using a 10% (w/v) NUPAGE® SDS-PAGE, was determined to homogenous, with greater than 95% purity. Typically, the purified preparations showed negligible serine protease activity when assessed using the standard serine protease assay with the substrate N-succinyl-L-Ala-L-Ala-L-Pro-L-Phe-p-nitroanilide (Bachem) The protein was formulated for storage using 25 mM MES buffer, pH 5.8, containing 1 mM zinc chloride, 4 mM calcium chloride, and 40% propylene glycol.

Example 7 Wash Performance

The Example describes the testing of NprE and ASP variants in a BMI (blood, milk, ink) microswatch assay at 0.25 μg/ml in liquid detergent (BMI-TIDE® 2× Ultra Clean Breeze” performance assay).

Table 7-1a summarizes the data obtained for wild type (WT) NprE and various NprE variants. The table lists the amino acid position and substitution, the BMI cleaning performance, and net charge change relative to WT NprE.

Table 7.1b lists the mutations contained in the NprE variants given “AA” designations in Table 7-1a.

TABLE 7-1a NprE Mutations, Charge Changes and BMI Performance Charge Average Corrected SD Enzyme Change Abs 405 nm Abs 405 nm n = 5 NprE wt 0 0.549 0.333 0.047 S199E −1 0.490 0.275 0.006 Q45K S199E 0 0.595 0.379 0.024 K269T −1 0.551 0.336 0.037 G24K K269T D220E 0 0.585 0.370 0.029 R280L −1 0.537 0.321 0.019 T4K R280L 0 0.594 0.378 0.015 K244S −1 0.513 0.298 0.026 S23K K244S 0 0.571 0.356 0.031 K214Q −1 0.485 0.269 0.012 N90K K214Q 0 0.547 0.331 0.010 10AA +1 0.520 0.304 0.015 12AA +2 0.399 0.183 0.011 14AA +2 0.453 0.237 0.008 18AA +3 0.349 0.133 0.011 no enzyme 0.216 0.000 0.003

TABLE 7-1b Multi-site NprE Variant Charge Changes and Substitutions Charge Variant Change Multiple-Substitutions 18 +3 4K-45K-50R-54K-59K-90K-129I-138L-179P-190L- 199E-214Q-220E-244S-265P-269H-285R-296E 14 +2 45K-50R-59K-90K-129I-138L-179P-190L-199E- 214Q-220E-244S-265P-285R 12 +2 45K-59K-90K-129I-138L-179P-190L-199E-214Q- 220E-265P-285R 10 +1 59K-90K-129I-179P-190L-199E-214Q-220E-265P- 285R

Tables 7-2a and 7-2b summarize the data obtained for wild type (WT) ASP and various ASP variants. The tables list the amino acid position and substitution, the BMI cleaning performance, and net charge change relative to WT ASP.

TABLE 7-2a ASP and ASP Variants Substitutions Variant R14I A64K Q81E Q81K Q81R T86K D184T N112E T116E T116R R123F R159F ASP-wt CBL-31 X X X X X CBL-29 X X X X CBL-25 X X X CBL-17 X X R14I X CBL-2 X X CBL-34 X X X CBL-162 X X X X CBL-226 X X X X X

TABLE 7-2b ASP Variant Results Relative Average Corrected SD Enzyme Charge Abs 405 nm Abs 405 nm n = 7 ASP-wt 0 0.550 0.295 0.015 CBL-31 −5 0.342 0.087 0.010 CBL-29 −4 0.399 0.144 0.024 CBL-25 −3 0.495 0.240 0.020 CBL-17 −2 0.576 0.320 0.020 R14I −1 0.556 0.300 0.025 CBL-2 0 0.613 0.358 0.020 CBL-34 +1 0.559 0.303 0.027 CBL-162 +2 0.563 0.308 0.021 CBL-226 +3 0.488 0.233 0.019 No 0.255 0.000 0.008 enzyme

Thus, surface charge mutations in a protease influence its wash performance on BMI, and optimization of the surface charge of a protein enhances its wash performance.

Example 8 LAS Stability

In this Example, LAS stability was measured after incubation of the test protease in the presence of 0.06% LAS (dodecylbenzenesulfonate sodium), and the residual activity was determined using the AAPF assay.

Reagents:

Dodecylbenzenesulfonate, Sodium salt (=LAS): Sigma D-2525

TWEEN®-80: Sigma P-8074

TRIS buffer (free acid): Sigma T-1378); 6.35 g is dissolved in about 960 ml water; pH is adjusted to 8.2 with 4N HCl. Final concentration of TRIS is 52.5 mM. LAS stock solution: Prepare a 10.5% LAS solution in MQ water (=10.5 g per 100 ml MQ) TRIS buffer-100 mM/pH 8.6 (100 mM Tris/0.005% Tween80) TRIS-Ca buffer, pH 8.6 (100 mM Tris/10 mM CaCl₂/0.005% Tween80)

Hardware:

Flat bottom MTPs: Costar (#9017)

Biomek FX ASYS Multipipettor Spectramax MTP Reader

iEMS Incubator/Shaker

Innova 4330 Incubator/Shaker

Biohit multichannel pipette

BMG Thermostar Shaker Method:

A 10 μl 0.063% LAS solution was prepared in 52.5 mM Tris buffer pH 8.2. The AAPF working solution was prepared by adding 1 ml of 100 mg/ml AAPF stock solution (in DMSO) to 100 ml (100 mM) TRIS buffer, pH 8.6. To dilute the supernatants, flat-bottomed plates were filled with dilution buffer and an aliquot of the supernatant was added and mixed well. The dilution ratio depended on the concentration of the ASP-controls in the growth plates (AAPF activity). The desired protein concentration was 80 ppm.

Ten μl of the diluted supernatant was added to 190 μl 0.063% LAS buffer/well. The MTP was covered with tape, shaken for a few seconds and placed in an incubator (Innova 4230) at 25° C., for 60 minutes at 200 rpm agitation. The initial activity (1=10 minutes) was determined after 10 minutes of incubation by transferring 10 μl of the mixture in each well to a fresh MTP containing 190 μl AAPF work solution. These solutions were mixed well and the AAPF activity was measured using a MTP Reader (20 readings in 5 minutes and 25° C.).

The final activity (t=60 minutes) was determined by removing another 10 μl of solution from the incubating plate after 60 minutes of incubation. The AAPF activity was then determined as described above. The calculations were performed as follows:

the % Residual Activity was [t−60 value]*100/[t−10 value].

In some embodiments, a preferred way to analyze variants is through the difference in free energy for the variant versus the parent protein in the process of interest. For a given process, the change in Gibbs Free Energy relative to the parent enzyme (ΔΔG) is given as follows:

ΔΔG=−RT ln (k _(variant) /k _(parent))

where k_(variant) is the rate constant for the variant enzyme, and k_(parent) is the rate constant for the parent enzyme, R is the Gas law constant and T is the absolute temperature. Most assays are not constructed to allow determination of true Free Energies, so Apparent Free Energy Change (ΔΔG_(app)) is defined as:

ΔΔG _(app) =−RT ln (P _(variant) /P _(parent))

where P_(variant) is the performance value for the variant and P_(parent) is the performance value for the parent enzyme under the same conditions. For the calculation of the ΔΔG_(app), values of the LAS-stability, the residual activity of the wildtype is defined as measure for the performance of the wildtype molecule (P_(parent)) and the residual activity of the variant is defined as performance of the variant molecule (P_(variant)). A negative value of ΔΔG_(app) indicates an improvement in the variant's LAS stability, while a positive ΔΔG_(app) value is indicative of a variant with decreased LAS stability.

The average ΔΔG_(app) value was then computed for bins of charge change relative to the wild-type enzyme, for the range +2 to −7. It is clear from this analysis, that increasing the total negative charge of the ASP enzyme increases the stability of the enzyme to LAS.

TABLE 8-1 ASP ΔΔG_(app.) values Average SD Charge change LAS ΔΔG_(app.) LAS ΔΔG_(app.) −7 −1.89 0.04 −6 −1.88 0.04 −5 −1.78 0.17 −4 −1.61 0.39 −3 −1.40 0.23 −2 −0.66 0.79 −1 0.11 1.07 0 1.51 1.25 1 1.73 1.21 2 2.01 1.31

Example 9 Enzyme Performance

This Example describes the testing of ASP variants in a BMI (blood, milk, ink) microswatch assay at 1.0 μg/ml in AATCC HDL detergent or 5 mM HEPES buffer under varying ionic strength. Also described is the testing of FNA and GG36 variants in BMI microswatch and baked egg assays in detergents representing various market geographies (e.g., differing pH, T, and/or water hardness), in both laundry and automatic dishwashing applications. This Example further describes the testing of alpha-amylase variants in cleaning applications, as well as in starch liquefaction. The methods provided in Example 1 were used (See, “Enzyme Performance Assays” and “Corn Four Hydrolysis”).

As shown in FIG. 1A, there is an optimal net charge change for cleaning performance for ASP in AATCC HDL detergent. Performance is measured in terms of relative cleaning performance observed in a BMI microswatch assay. A value of around 1.0 indicates top cleaning performance in this assay. As evidenced from the figure, accumulation of extreme negative (−5) or positive (+3) charges relative to the wild-type results in poor cleaning performance. There is a distinct charge optimum for cleaning performance centered at −2 relative to wild-type ASP. This is an example of optimizing a protein physical property (e.g., net charge) for improving a given outcome or benefit (e.g., cleaning performance in a liquid laundry detergent). The charge optimum identified with this limited set of probe proteins coincides with the optimum charge observed when measuring the entire ASP charge combinatorial library as shown in FIG. 1B. The use of probe proteins is therefore predictive of the behavior of the entire library.

According to the Debye-Hückel theory (Israelachivili, Intermolecular and Surface Forces, Second Edition: With Applications to Colloidal and Biological Systems, Academic Press 2^(nd) Ed. [1992]), electrostatic interactions are governed primarily by the strength of double-layer forces between interacting species at constant potential or constant charge (enzymes, substrates, fabric, and detergent), their size, and the dielectric constant of the surrounding medium. In order to characterize the electrostatic behavior of particles in a complex medium, such as a detergent formulation, their interaction in a reduced environment possessing the same Debye screening length is sufficient. This was accomplished by choosing a buffer of matching pH and conductivity to that of the detergent under wash conditions. As indicated in FIG. 1A, screening of the ASP charge ladder in this buffer correctly predicted the charge optimum at −2 observed in with the AATCC detergent (filled circles). FIG. 2 depicts relative BMI stain removal as a function of charge change relative to wild-type ASP, in 5 mM HEPES buffer at pH 8.0 with varying amounts of indifferent electrolyte, in this case NaCl. Addition of 2.5 mM NaCl to this buffer matches the pH and conductivity of typical North American wash conditions. Addition of a higher concentration of NaCl is representative of Japanese and European wash conditions, typically higher in ionic strength due to both increased water hardness and detergent concentrations. Thus, the ASP charge optimum is a function of the solution environment (e.g., detergent formulation).

There are two features that become immediately apparent. First, usage of a model system consisting of a limited number of probe proteins for a given physical property (e.g., charge ladder ASP variants) in a reduced buffer environment of matching pH and conductivity is predictive of the behavior of a large ASP library screened under detergent conditions. Indeed, the charge optimum shown in FIG. 1A measured in buffer containing 2.5 mM NaCl (unfilled circles) is identical to the optimum observed for this ASP charge-ladder screened in AATCC detergent under North American wash conditions. Second, the location of the charge optimum is a strong function of ionic strength. With further addition of NaCl shifting the charge optimum towards variants with a positive charge relative to wild type ASP. In short, the usage of charge ladder protein probes allows rapid prediction of the performance of different enzyme variants across formulations representative of diverse geographical markets.

The above observations hold for other serine proteases such as the subtilisins FNA and GG36. For instance FIGS. 3A and 3B shows an optimum charge for FNA and GG36 respectively, in cleaning performance under North American laundry conditions using TIDE 2× detergent. The left Y-axes shows microswatch cleaning performance, where a higher number indicates superior BMI stain removal. The right Y-axes shows the performance index defined as cleaning performance of variants (filled symbols) relative to the parent molecule (unfilled symbols). The horizontal lines indicate a performance index at either 2 or 3 standard deviations above the noise of the assay. The FNA charge combinatorial library (CCL) exhibits a charge optimum at zero charge changes with respect to the parent FNA while the GG36 CCL exhibits an optimum at negative two charges relative to the GG36 parent.

FIG. 4A, 4B, 5A and 5B demonstrate that the location of the charge optimum is a function of the solution environment determined by detergent formulation, pH, temperature and ionic strength due to water hardness and detergent concentration. For instance the charge optimum for FNA CCL shifts dramatically from zero under North American laundry conditions to more positive charges under Western European and Japanese conditions. Moreover the charge optimum is observed for both liquid and granular (powder) laundry detergent formulations. Similarly, a charge optimum was observed for both FNA and GG36 CCL in automatic dish washing (ADW) detergent against (e.g., Reckitt Benckiser Calgonit 40° C., 12 gpg, pH 10) baked egg as the enzyme substrate as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B.

As demonstrated during development of the present invention, the cleaning performance of protease charge variants (e.g., ASP, GG36, FNA, etc) in different detergents is largely dominated by the working solution pH and conductivity. Final conductivity is a measure of ionic strength and is due to water hardness, detergent concentration and composition. For instance, there is a correlation between cleaning performance of GG36 and FNA variants against baked egg stains under European and North American ADW detergent when carried out at pH 10.6 and conductivity of 3.0 mS/cm. In particular, cleaning performance of charge variants is well correlated provided pH and conductivity are the same. This finding makes it possible to screen enzyme performance using a given detergent, for extrapolation of those results to another detergent of matching pH and conductivity. Likewise it is possible to screen enzyme performance in a buffer of matching pH and conductivity, for extrapolation of those results to a detergent exhibiting similar working pH and conductivity.

There is a charge optimum for cleaning performance of amylase charge variants (e.g., AmyS-S242Q, and AmyTS23t, etc.) in cleaning applications, which is a strong function of the working solution pH and conductivity. Specifically, as determined during development of the present invention, positive charge change variants of S242Q are superior for the cleaning of rice starch microswatches under North American laundry conditions (e.g., TIDE 2×), while negative charge change variants of AmyTS23t are superior for the cleaning of rice starch microswatches under Western European laundry conditions. Furthermore, these observations hold true for amylase used in starch hydrolysis reactions. As shown in FIG. 7A, positive S242Q variants exhibit higher specific activity for hydrolysis of BODIPY starch substrates.

Starch liquefaction by the AmyS charge ladder variants was determined by monitoring the final viscosity following liquefaction of corn starch. A low viscosity value is indicative of breakdown of starch polysaccharides. As shown in FIG. 7B, a charge optimum (e.g., −4 to −2) was observed for liquefaction. AmyS variants that were too negative (e.g., −12 to −10) exhibited very high final viscosities, and variants that were too positive (e.g., +6 or greater) exhibited even higher final viscosities (e.g., beyond limits of lab instrumentation due to torque overload).

Example 10 Protein Expression

This Example describes determining the relationship between protein charge and protein expression.

Production of ASP Variants On A 14L Fermentor Scale

A set of fed-batch fermentations on a 14L scale were carried out to compare the production levels of the ASP protease combinatorial charge library variants (R14I-N112E-T116E-R123F-R159F, R14I-N112E-T116E-R123F, R14I-N112E-T116E, R14I-N112E, R14I, R14I-D184T, R14I-D184T-T86K, R14I-T86K-D184T-A64K and R14I-T86K-D184T-A64K-Q81K), which vary in charge from −5 to +3. Seed cultures were grown by inoculating 2L unbaffled shake flasks containing 600 mL of culture media (LB broth +1% glucose +20 mg/L neomycin) with 1 mL of Bacillus subtilis glycerol stock corresponding to each variant. The cultures were incubated at 37° C., with agitation at 175 rpm in a shaking incubator until OD₅₅₀ reached 0.8-1.5. At that time, the entire seed cultures were transferred aseptically to 14L fermentors equipped with an integrated controller to monitor: temperature, percent dissolved oxygen (% DO), pH and agitation. Off gases were monitored by in-line mass spectrophotometer. The fermentation media (7 L) that was used consisted of 10% soy meal in a phosphate based buffer containing magnesium sulfate, trace minerals, and additional neomycin at 20 mg/L. The initial fermentation parameters were set to: 37° C. temperature, pH 6.8 (adjusted with ammonium hydroxide during the run), 750 rpm agitation, 40% DO (maintained during run by adjusting air and agitation), 11 slpm airflow, and 1 bar pressure. Antifoam (Mazu DF204) was added on demand to control foaming. A fed batch process of 0.5 to 2.1 g/min of glucose linear feed over 10 hours was programmed (using 60% glucose solution for feed) with a pH rise as trigger. Fermentation sampling occurred every 4 hours, taking 15 mL of whole broth to perform the following measurements: cell density (measure absorbance at 550 nm) on spectrophotometer, ASP variant production, glucose, nitrogen, phosphate and total protein. The total fermentation run times were between 40 and 45 h.

Measurement ASP Variant Titer Using An Aaa-Pna Assay

Samples of the B. subtilis cultures obtained during the fermentation were assayed for the production of the variant ASP proteases. The enzymes produced were assayed for activity against the substrate, N-succinyl-Ala-Ala-Ala-p-nitroanilide (AAA-pNA). The assay measured the production of modified protease as the increase in absorbance at 405 nm resulting from the hydrolysis and release of p-nitroaniline (Estell et al., J Biol Chem, 260: 6518-6521 [1985]). Aliquots of the B. subtilis clarified supernatants from the fermentor were assayed in buffer containing: 100 mM Tris, 0.01 mM CaCl₂, 0.005% Triton X-100, at pH 8.6. A wild type ASP protease standard served to generate a calibration curve for calculation of protein produced in g/L of fermentation broth.

FIG. 8 depicts expression levels of ASP charge ladder probe proteins in Bacillus subtilis as a function of net charge relative to wild type ASP. As evidenced from this figure, accumulation of extreme negative (−5) or positive (+3) charge relative to wild type ASP results in poor expression levels. The use of ASP charge ladder probe proteins allows rapid identification of optimal net charge for improving expression in a given host organism. In this case a net charge range of between −2 and +1 relative to wild type ASP corresponds to optimal expression levels. At the charge optimum itself, observed for ASP (−2) nearly a 4-fold improvement in expression was observed as compared to variants having extreme charge changes. These observations at the shake flask level were confirmed at the 14L fermentor scale. Table 8-1 shows two measures of expression in the 14 L fermentors, the ASP approximate titer at 40 h, as well as ASP production calculated from the linear portion of the expression curves. Shake flask titers are provided for reference in the last column. All titers have been normalized to ASP-R14I levels. A net charge change range of between −2 and +1 relative to wild type ASP corresponds to optimal expression levels at the fermentor scale. This is another example of optimizing a protein physical property, in this case net charge, for modulating a completely different benefit, in this case recombinant protein expression.

TABLE 8-1 Bacillus subtilis Expression of ASP Charge Ladder Variants at 14L Scale* 40 h Flask ASP Titers Yield Titers Run # Charge Ladder Variant

 Charge % R14I % R14I % R14I 0720 R14I-N112E-T116E- −5 7.53 8.24 36.00 R123F-R159F 0716 R14I-N112E-T116E- −4 9.59 13.93 63.33 R123F 0719 R14I-N112E-T116E −3 22.95 22.77 58.67 0748 R14I-N112E −2 104.1 110.56 113.33 0746 R14I −1 100 100.00 100.00 0747 R14I-D184T 0 86.64 92.81 80.00 0749 R14I-D184T-T86K +1 109.93 127.27 70.00 0721 R14I-T86K-D184T- +2 6.84 8.61 31.33 A64K 0717 R14I-T86K-D184T- +3 55.82 72.96 46.67 A64K-Q81K *Expression of ASP variants in Bacillus subtilis at 14L fermentation scale, and in terms of peak titers and productivity in shake flask scale.

Expression and secretion of a protein in a host cell involves interaction of the expressed protein with a number of host proteins. Optimal interaction of the expressed protein with host cell proteins, especially with the rate limiting interaction, is essential for protein production. This interaction can be optimized by modification of the surface charge/hydrophobicity of the expressed protein (or host cell protein). Nonetheless, knowledge of the mechanism(s) involved is not necessary in order to make and use the present invention.

Example 11 LAS and Chelant Stability

This Example describes determining the relationship between protein charge and stability in a reaction medium containing both an anionic surfactant and a chelant. For the determination of protease activity of the stressed and unstressed samples, the suc-AAPF-pNA assay was used.

Reagents used included: control buffer: 50 mM HEPES, 0.005% Tween-80, pH 8.0; and stress buffer 50 mM HEPES, 0.1% (w/v) LAS (dodecylbenzene-sulfonate, sodium salt, Sigma D-2525), 10 mM EDTA, pH 8.0. Enzyme variants (20 ppm) were diluted 1:20 into 96-well non-binding flat-bottom plate containing either control or stress buffer and mixed. The control plate was incubated at room temperature while the stress plate was immediately placed at 37° C. for 30-60 min (depending on the stability of the enzyme being tested). Following incubation, enzyme activity was measured using suc-AAPF-pNA assay. The fraction of remaining or residual activity is equal to the reaction rate of the stressed sample divided by the reaction rate of the control sample. The parent enzymes and variants are stable for 60 min in the control buffer.

FIG. 9 depicts LAS/EDTA stability as a function of net charge change relative to parent FNA, for a library containing 80 variants. This library was designed and constructed according to the methods described in Example 5, to span several net charges relative to the parent FNA molecule. As evidenced from the Figure, accumulation of negative charges (up to −4) relative to parent FNA, are beneficial for combined LAS/chelant stability. This is an example of optimizing a protein physical property, in this case net charge, for improving protein stability in a complex liquid laundry environment.

For ASP and FNA there is a charge dependence for LAS/EDTA stability. Adding negative charge increases stability. But, even when going one or two charges more positive than the parent, it is possible to find, by our method, an arrangement of charge mutations which confer equal or greater stability than the parent.

Example 12 Thermal Stability

This Example describes determining the relationship between protein charge and thermal stability. Protease assays were based on dimethylcasein (DMC) hydrolysis, before and after heating the buffered culture supernatant. Amylase assays were based on BODIPY starch hydrolysis before and after heating the culture supernatant. The same chemical and reagent solutions for these assays were used as described in Example 1.

Thermal Stability Assay for Proteases

The filtered culture supernatants were diluted to 20 ppm in PIPES buffer (based on the concentration of the controls in the growth plates). First, 10 μl of each diluted enzyme sample was taken to determine the initial activity in the dimethylcasein assay and treated as described below. Then, 50 μl of each diluted supernatant were placed in the empty wells of a MTP. The MTP plate was incubated in an iEMS incubator/shaker HT (Thermo Labsystems) for 90 minutes at 60° C. and 400 rpm. The plates were cooled on ice for 5 minutes. Then, 10 μl of the solution was added to a fresh MTP containing 200 μl dimethylcasein substrate/well to determine the final activity after incubation. This MTP was covered with tape, shaken for a few seconds and placed in an oven at 37° C. for 2 hours without agitation.

The residual activity of a sample was expressed as the ratio of the final absorbance and the initial absorbance, both corrected for blanks. FIG. 10 shows the thermostability index as a function of net charge change relative to wild type ASP for a SEL library. A higher index indicates a more thermally stable variant. As evidenced from the FIGURE accumulation of extreme negative (−2) or positive (+2) charges relative to the wild type enzyme are detrimental for thermal stability. There is a distinct charge optimum for thermal stability centered at zero net charge changes relative to wild type ASP. This is an example of optimizing a protein physical property, in this case net charge, for improving enzyme thermal stability for a liquid laundry application.

Thermal Stability Assay for Alpha-Amylases

The filtered culture supernatants were serially diluted in 50 mM sodium acetate +2 mM CaCl₂ pH 5.8 with 002% Tween. 10 μl of each diluted culture supernatant was assayed to determine the initial amylase activity by the BODIPY starch assay. 50 μl of each diluted culture supernatant was placed in a VWR low profile PCR 96 well plate. 304 of mineral oil was added to each well as a sealant. The plate was incubated in a BioRad DNA engine Peltier Thermal Cycler at 95° C. for 30 or 60 minutes depending on the stability of the parent enzyme. Following incubation, the plate was cooled to 4° C. for 5 min and then kept at room temperature. 10 μl of each sample was added to a fresh plate and assayed to determine the final amylase activity by the BODIPY starch assay as described in Example 1.

Calculation of Thermostability

The residual activity of a sample was expressed as the ratio of the final absorbance and the initial absorbance, both corrected for blanks. These observations were also made with amylase charge variants. FIG. 11 shows the residual activity of the first AmyS charge ladder as a function of charge change relative to wild type. Once again accumulation of extreme negative charges (−12) or positive charges (+10) relative to the wild type enzyme are detrimental for thermal stability. This is an example of optimizing a protein physical property, in this case net charge, for improving enzyme thermal stability for a liquid laundry application.

Example 13 Modulating of an Enzyme's pH-Activity Profile

This Example describes the use of surface charge mutations to optimize an enzyme's pH-activity profile for a given reaction.

FIG. 12 shows rice starch microswatch cleaning activity as a function of pH for the first AmyS charge ladder of Example 5. The pH range from 3.0 to 4.25 was in 200 mM Na formate containing 0.01% Tween-80, while the pH range from 4.25 to 5.5 was in 200 mM Na acetate containing 0.01% Tween-80. The data are fit to titration curves, each with a single pKa value.

FIG. 13 show an apparent pKa for AmyS catalysis as a function of charge change for the first AmyS charge ladder of Example 5. These data demonstrate that pH-activity profiles for an alpha-amylase can be significantly shifted by surface charge mutations, even in 200 mM buffer. Although this had been reported at very low ionic strength for subtilisin (Russell et al., J Mol Biol, 193: 803-13 [1987]) and for D-xylose isomerase (Cha et al., Mol Cell, 8: 374-82 [1998]) this is believed to be the first time this has been accomplished with alpha-amylase, and surprisingly, even at high ionic strength.

While particular embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various other changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is therefore intended to cover in the appended claims all such changes and modifications that are within the scope of this invention.

All patents and publications mentioned in the specification are indicative of the levels of those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains. All patents and publications are herein incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference.

Having described the preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will appear to those ordinarily skilled in the art that various modifications may be made to the disclosed embodiments, and that such modifications are intended to be within the scope of the present invention.

Those of skill in the art readily appreciate that the present invention is well adapted to carry out the objects and obtain the ends and advantages mentioned, as well as those inherent therein. The compositions and methods described herein are representative of preferred embodiments, are exemplary, and are not intended as limitations on the scope of the invention. It is readily apparent to one skilled in the art that varying substitutions and modifications may be made to the invention disclosed herein without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

The invention illustratively described herein suitably may be practiced in the absence of any element or elements, limitation or limitations which is not specifically disclosed herein. The terms and expressions which have been employed are used as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention that in the use of such terms and expressions of excluding any equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, but it is recognized that various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention claimed. Thus, it should be understood that although the present invention has been specifically disclosed by preferred embodiments and optional features, modification and variation of the concepts herein disclosed may be resorted to by those skilled in the art, and that such modifications and variations are considered to be within the scope of this invention as defined by herein.

The invention has been described broadly and generically herein. Each of the narrower species and subgeneric groupings falling within the generic disclosure also form part of the invention. This includes the generic description of the invention with a proviso or negative limitation removing any subject matter from the genus, regardless of whether or not excised material is specifically recited herein. 

1. A method for producing at least one protein variant with improved performance as compared to a parent protein, comprising modifying at least one amino acid residue at one or more positions in said parent protein to yield at least one protein variant having a more positive, more negative, less positive, or less negative charge compared to the parent protein.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said modifying comprises substituting, adding and/or deleting.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein said modifying comprises chemically modifying.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein said protein is an enzyme.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein said enzyme is a protease, amylase, cellulase, polyesterase, esterase, lipase, cutinase, pectinase, oxidase, transferase, alkalase, or catalase.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein said protease is a serine protease or a neutral metalloprotease.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance of said at least one protein variant is assessed using at least one test of interest.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein said at least one test of interest comprises measuring substrate binding, enzyme inhibition, expression levels, detergent stability, thermal stability, reaction rate, extent of reaction, thermal activity, starch liquefaction, ester hydrolysis, enzymatic bleaching, wash performance, biomass degradation, solubility, chelant stability, and/or saccharification.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein said at least one protein variant exhibits improved performance in at least one said test of interest, as compared to said parent protein.
 10. A method for producing at least one enzyme variant with improved wash performance as compared to a parent enzyme, comprising modifying at least one amino acid residue at one or more positions in said parent enzyme to produce said at least one enzyme variant having a more positive more negative, less positive, or less negative compared to the parent enzyme.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein said modifying comprises substituting, adding and/or deleting.
 12. The method of claim 10, wherein said modifying comprises chemically modifying.
 13. The method of claim 10, further comprising: testing the wash performance of said enzyme variant and said parent enzyme to provide performance indices for said enzyme variants and said parent enzyme.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein said performance index of said enzyme variant has a value that is greater than 1.0 and the wash performance of the parent enzyme has a performance index of 1.0.
 15. The method of claim 10, further comprising: producing the variant enzyme having improved wash performance.
 16. The method of claim 10, wherein said enzyme is a protease, amylase, cellulase, polyesterase, esterase, lipase, cutinase, pectinase, oxidase, transferase, alkalase, or catalase.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein said protease is a serine protease or a neutral metalloprotease.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein said protease is a Bacillus protease.
 19. The method of claim 13, wherein said wash performance is tested in a powder or liquid detergent composition having a pH of between 5 and 12.0.
 20. The method of claim 13, wherein said wash performance is tested in a liquid laundry detergent having a basic pH.
 21. The method of claim 13, wherein said wash performance is tested in cold water liquid detergent comprising a basic pH.
 22. The method of claim 10, wherein the substitutions are in positions in said parent enzyme having a solvent accessible surface (SAS) of greater than about 25%.
 23. The method of claim 10, wherein the substitutions are in positions in the parent enzyme having a solvent accessible surface (SAS) of greater than about 50% or greater than about 65%.
 24. A method for producing enzyme variants with improved wash performance as compared to a parent enzyme, comprising: a) modifying at least one amino acid residue at one or more positions in a parent enzyme to produce a first enzyme variant having a more positive, more negative, less positive, or less negative charge compared to the parent enzyme; and b) modifying at least one amino acid residue at one or more positions in a parent enzyme to produce a second enzyme variant having a more positive, more negative, less positive, or less negative charge compared to the parent enzyme.
 25. The method of claim 24, wherein said modifying comprises substituting, adding and/or deleting.
 26. The method of claim 24, wherein said modifying comprises chemically modifying.
 27. The method of claim 24, wherein said steps are repeated to produce a plurality of enzyme variants.
 28. The method of claim 24, wherein said parent enzyme is a protease, amylase, cellulase, polyesterase, esterase, lipase, cutinase, pectinase, oxidase, transferase, alkalase, or catalase.
 29. The method of claim 28, wherein said protease is a neutral metalloprotease, or serine protease.
 30. The method of claim 24, wherein said parent enzyme is a Bacillus protease.
 31. The method of claim 24, further comprising: testing the wash performance of the variant enzymes and parent enzyme, and comparing the ability of said parent and said variant enzymes to remove a stain in said wash performance test, wherein the wash performance of said parent enzyme is given a value of 1.0 and the variant enzyme with improved wash performance achieves a value greater than 1.0.
 32. The method of claim 31, further comprising: producing the enzyme variant having improved wash performance as compared to the parent enzyme.
 33. The method of claim 32, wherein said parent enzyme is a serine protease.
 34. The method of claim 33, wherein said serine protease is a Bacillus serine protease or Cellulomonasserine protease.
 35. The method of claim 31, wherein said wash performance is tested in a powder or liquid detergent composition having a pH of between 5 and 12.0.
 36. The method of claim 31, wherein said wash performance is tested in a liquid laundry detergent having a basic pH.
 37. The method of claim 31, wherein said wash performance is tested in cold water liquid detergent comprising a basic pH.
 38. The method of claim 25, wherein said substitutions are in positions in said parent enzyme having a solvent accessible surface (SAS) of greater than about 25%.
 39. The method of claim 38, wherein said substitutions are in positions in the parent enzyme having a solvent accessible surface (SAS) of greater than about 50% or greater than about 65%.
 40. The method of claim 25, wherein at least one acidic amino acid residue is substituted with at least one basic amino acid residue.
 41. The method of claim 25, wherein at least one acidic amino acid residue is substituted with at least one neutral amino acid residue.
 42. The method of claim 25, wherein at least one neutral amino acid residue is substituted with at least one basic amino acid residue.
 43. The method of claim 25, wherein at least one basic amino acid residue is substituted with at least one acidic amino acid residue.
 44. The method of claim 25, wherein at least one basic amino acid residue is substituted with at least one neutral amino acid residue.
 45. The method of claim 25, wherein at least one neutral amino acid residue is substituted with at least one acidic amino acid.
 46. The method of claim 25, wherein at least one neutral amino acid residue in said parent enzyme is substituted with at least one neutral amino acid residue to yield an enzyme variant having the same charge as compared to the parent enzyme.
 47. A method for producing at least one protein variant with improved performance as compared to a parent protein, comprising modifying at least one amino acid residue at one or more positions in said parent protein to produce at least one protein variant having a more positive, more negative, less positive, or less negative charge as compared to said parent protein and wherein said one or more positions have a solvent accessible surface (SAS) of greater than about 25%.
 48. The method of claim 47, wherein said one or more position is non-conserved in amino acid alignments of homologous protein sequences comprising said parent protein and at least one additional protein.
 49. The method of claim 47, wherein said parent protein is an enzyme.
 50. The method of claim 49, wherein said enzyme is a protease, amylase, cellulase, polyesterase, esterase, lipase, cutinase, pectinase, oxidase, transferase, alkalase, or a catalase.
 51. The method of claim 47, wherein said improved performance comprises an increase in one or more properties selected from substrate binding, enzyme inhibition, expression, stability in detergent, thermal stability, reaction rate, extent of reaction, thermal activity, starch liquefaction, biomass degradation, saccharification, ester hydrolysis, enzymatic bleaching, wash performance, solubility, chelants stability, and/or textile modification.
 52. The method of claim 47, wherein said modifying comprises substituting, adding, and/or deleting.
 53. The method of claim 47, wherein said modifying comprises chemically modifying.
 54. The method of claim 52, wherein said at least one substitution comprises a net charge change of 0, −1 or −2 relative to the parent protein,
 55. The method of claim 52, wherein said at least one substitution comprises a net charge change of +1 or +2 relative to the parent protein.
 56. The method of claim 52, wherein at least one of said substitutions in said parent protein comprises a charge change of 0, −1 or −2, and wherein at least one further substitution in said parent protein comprises a charge change of +1 or +2 relative to said parent protein.
 57. The method of claim 52, wherein said protein variant has a net charge change of +1 or +2, relative to the parent protein.
 58. The method of claim 52, wherein said protein variant has a net charge change of 0, −1, or −2, relative to the parent protein.
 59. The method of claim 52, wherein said substitutions are in positions in the parent enzyme having a solvent accessible surface (SAS) of greater than about 50%.
 60. The method of claim 52, wherein the substitutions are in positions in the parent enzyme having a solvent accessible surface (SAS) of greater than about 65%. 